The Federal Government has once more assured the public that the nation’s security forces are doing everything within their power to safeguard and protect both domestic residents and foreign nationals.
The assurance was given in Abuja at a Ministerial Session of the ongoing UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the military and other security forces have been very proactive in addressing security issues.
While Alhaji Mohammed acknowledged that terrorists, bandits, and others of their kind would always seek to undermine the country’s peace, security, and stability, he asserted that Nigeria’s security forces are capable of defending both citizens and non-citizens.
The Minister stated that the threat of disinformation to national and international peace and stability is obvious because it erodes public confidence in the system during his speech on the topic “National Media and Information Literacy Frameworks, Sustaining Beyond Disinformation.”
He added that the deliberate misinformation being soared has become more prevalent with the ease in access to connectivity over the digital space since there is available and affordable technology/software that can be used to distort digital content (audio, visual and images) such as photoshop, deep fake and voiceover software, which are readily available as open source/free or paid apps on the Internet.
The Minister, however, said there was a ray of hope as the tech companies were increasingl involved in the development and deployment of technology to checkmate the spread of disinformation over their platforms, in addition to the availability of technology through text and reverse image search engines to decipher and verify such contents.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Goodluck Opiah, served as panelists in the discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director General, Communication and Information, of UNESCO.
In an effort to combat misinformation and the dangers of social media, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, stated that citizens must practice self regulation with a strong sense of responsibility. According to him, upholding professional ethics is crucial for media professionals.
