Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has enjoined Nigerians to shun media houses that churn out fake news. Alhaji Mohammed stated this Friday at the opening ceremony of the National Council on Information held in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
He said it has become apparent that such media houses are out to destroy the country. Addressing delegates drawn from the 36 states of the federation, Lai said “the theme of this meeting, ‘Hate speeches, fake news and National unity’, was well chosen to bring to the fore the looming danger facing our country from what has now become the scourge of our time”.
“The fact that we have called an extra-ordinary meeting of the National Council on Information attests to the seriousness we attach to this issue. “Though I have repeatedly called attention, at many fora, to the dangers posed by the menace of the now pervasive hate speech, disinformation and fake news, no one gave the issue the attention it deserves until it started threatening the very foundation of our national unity”.
“In Nigeria today, the hate being spewed on radio stations across the country is so alarming; If you tune into many radio stations, you will be shocked by the things being said, the careless incitement to violence and the level of insensitivity to the multi-religious, multi-ethnic nature of our country. Unfortunately, even the hosts of such radio programmes do little or nothing to regulate the information dishing out.
“Oftentimes, they are willing collaborators of hate speech campaigners and this must not be allowed to continue because it is detrimental to the unity and well-being of our country”. “Recently on Wednesday, 26 April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at the meeting. I said, among others, that President Muhammadu Buhari did not preside over the day’s meeting because he decided to work from home that day.
“In reporting my briefing, one of the correspondents quoted me as saying the President would work from home henceforth, rather than on that day only; the reporting generated a lot of uproar, until I issued a rebuttal. “This is a clear case of disinformation, which is defined as false information deliberately spread to deceive the people and the following month, after I had briefed State House Correspondents on the proceedings of another Council meeting, another newspaper headline went thus: ”We do not know who will sign the 2017 budget – Lai Mohammed”, this is at variance with what I said. “When I was asked a question relating to the signing of the 2017 budget, my exact words were: ‘when it is transmitted to the Presidency, a decision will be taken’, the reporting is another clear case of disinformation”.
“There is no doubt that the resurgent push for separatism as well as rising cases of ethnic and religious disharmony are all traceable to the growing phenomenon of hate speech, as well as the disinformation and fake news campaign”. “Nigeria is a country of ethnic and religious diversity that should be a source of strength, if the fault lines are not deliberately being exposed and exploited by those who are bent on setting the people against themselves, using their new-found tools of hate speech disinformation and fake news”. “This dangerous trend is threatening the very foundation of our national unity.
It is daily pushing the nation close to the precipice, perhaps more than at any other time since the end of the civil war. “We all must say no to hate speech, either on our radio and television stations, newspapers, the Social Media, on our phones or in the public space and we must be resolute in tackling the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. We as government information managers must embark on a relentless campaign against these evil tendencies at our various levels, whether federal or state.
I call on citizens to boycott any medium that engages in hate speech, incitement to violence, disinformation and fake news: the regulators must also be alive to their responsibilities by promptly sanctioning the purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. “Yes, our constitution allows freedom of speech and this government believes in it, but freedom of speech must not be allowed to become freedom of irresponsibility. “On the part of the federal government, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has recently undertaken a series of engagements with all stakeholders to defuse the tension caused by these tendencies and his efforts have gone a long way in calming frayed nerves, especially in the aftermath of the attacks and counter-attacks by various groups across the country and we must replicate this kind of engagement in our various states.
Also as a follow-up to the efforts of the Acting President, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture is planning a series of engagements with the media, to educate and sensitize them to the dangers posed to the unity of the country by hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Needless to say that we are also appealing to the media, the traditional media in particular, to show responsibility by repudiating the freewheeling and out-of-control purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Unlike the Social Media, the traditional media is subject to the rigours of accuracy, fact-checking and fairness, among others. Sadly, even a section of the traditional media now apes the hate campaigners by lifting their unverified or distorted news and dumping such on their readers: this is not right”, he said.
Also speaking at the occasion Gov Simon Lalong who was represented by his deputy Governor Sonnie Tyoden said that information sector is a key driver of the change agenda in the state, adding that the Plateau State ministry of Information and communication is being strengthened for the urgent tasks at hand . He cited three instances of disinformation and fake news targeted at him, including when he was quoted as saying the government does not know who will sign the 2017 budget, when what he said was that when the budget is transmitted to the presidency, a decision will be taken.
On the way forward, he said Nigerians must say NO to hate speech and boycott any medium that is used to spew hate or that engages in disinformation and fake news, adding that if left unchecked, the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news is capable of undermining national unity and pushing the nation to the precipice.
The Minister also told the delegates to the meeting, which included government information managers from all the states of the federation, that every state must emulate what the Federal Government has done, through Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who held a series of engagements with key stakeholders to calm frayed nerves in the aftermath of the quit notice recently issued to section of the country by northern youths ”We must be resolute in tackling the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news.
We as government information managers must embark on a relentless campaign against these evil tendencies at our various levels, whether federal or state,” he said, adding that the regulators must also be alive to their responsibility by sanctioning erring media outlets ”Yes, our constitution allows freedom of speech and this government believes in it, but freedom of speech must not be allowed to become freedom of irresponsibility,” Alhaji Mohammed.
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