Use your global platform to fight fake news, FG tells UNESCO

The Federal Government has called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to use its global platform in fighting fake news.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the call at the ongoing 41st UNESCO General Conference in Paris, France.

Mohammed, at a meeting with the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Mr Tawfik Jelassi, said fake news and disinformation had reached an alarming rate in the country.

”The challenge is how do we handle the twin evil of fake news and disinformation which has the capacity to cause unrest, destroy the essence of the society.”

“UNESCO needs to help governments and the public by placing emphasis on the fight against fake news as much as it should be.”

“In addition to the roles of enhancing access to information and protection of journalists, the organisation should proffer ways to handle fake news,” he said.

The minister said the advent of new media without regulation had aggravated fake news because social media platforms had become the medium of choice for fake news agents.

“Nigeria is completely different from how it is being perceived from outside., no thanks to fake news purveyors.”

“We are yet to see any country that is more liberal than Nigeria in granting access to information media and literacy even among the developed countries.”

“For 10 years, I was a spokesperson for the opposition and there was never a time I was incarcerated.”

“At the moment, we have an extremely tolerant government to the extent that it is the government that is at the mercy of the media in Nigeria,” he said.

The minister said there were at least 145 online publications that were devoted to harassing the Federal Government and using the platform as tools to destabilise the country.

He commended UNESCO for its sterling achievements in the areas of giving access to information, giving capacity for literacy and protection of journalists.

Jelassi said UNESCO believes in transparency and accountability of digital platforms as well as respect of privacy in data collection, processing and sharing.

He said the information and media literacy programmes of the organisation were meant to create awareness among citizens about how to use digital media.

According to him, this is to prevent citizens from being trapped by misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and speech of violence and extremism.