The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace, has stressed the need for the media to fact-check and verify information in order to rebuild audience trust and ensure content integrity, promising to provide the VON platform as a tool for national security, unity, and development.
Mallam Ndace made the appeal in a welcome address on Tuesday, 3 June 2025, to the VON Forum 2025— a high-level national forum organised in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
The event, which was themed “Renewed Hope Agenda: Citizens’ Engagement and National Security”, provided a strategic platform for inclusive dialogue and collaboration among key stakeholders—including the media, security agencies, policymakers, civil society actors, traditional and religious leaders, and youth representatives.
“This platform is not for lamentation. It is to amplify the efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. This forum represents more than an event. It’s a catalyst for national discourse to create action-oriented dialogue,”said the DG, VON.
In an era of misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies, participants called for coordinated strategies to counter fake news, especially those that threatened peace and unity.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher G. Musa, addressing the audience.
The forum highlighted the role of the media and stressed the security agencies’ need for the support of the citizens in the critical assignment of defending and protecting the nation.
It also featured two panel sessions, which focused on “Citizens and the Security Architecture” and “Citizens as Stakeholders in National Security”.
“When security agents lose their morale, they lose their commitment and courage to fight,” it was stressed.
The event had in attendance the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alh. Mohammed Idris; the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher G. Musa; the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.); the Armed Forces of Nigeria; heads and representatives of security, military and paramilitary agencies, among other dignitaries; the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) led by its President, Dr Ike Neliaku; traditional rulers and community leaders; civil society organisations; students; and some members of the National Youth Corps Service, to mention but a few.
