President Muhammadu Buhari and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have decried the role of fake news and misinformation, saying they have been used to aggravate conflicts and crises, exacerbate insecurity, distort government efforts, fuel apprehension among the citizens and create distrust between the governments and their people.
Buhari said it was evident in Nigerian societies that getting reliable information is a constant battle, adding that media practitioners and stakeholders within the sector face the clear and present danger of misinformation.
He stated this at the high-level opening session of the Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week 2022 with the theme: "Nurturing Trust, a Media and Information Literacy Imperative".
The president, however, stressed the need to confront the challenges of rising misinformation and hate speech. He said Nigerians must come together to defend freedom of speech while upholding other values that the nation cherishes.
Buhari said his administration will continue to work for a common standard that balances rights with responsibilities to keep the most vulnerable from harm and help strengthen and enrich our communities and most importantly strengthen trust and social cohesion by improving critical thinking competencies to adequately assess the quality of information received and shared which I believe is a key component of the MIL programme this week.
He said MIL has over the years proven to be a veritable tool in building the capacities of individuals and communities to learn, decipher, educate and effectively use data and information for the common good.
With regards to the use of social media which also underscores its potential to mould, shape and form opinion, the President who was represented by his Chief of Staff Ibrahim Gambari said, "Here in Nigeria with a population of about 220 million people, 37 per cent is under 34 years and the country has about 100 million internet users, of which about 32 million are social media users."
He also urged the gathering to help foster sustainable peace and development globally.
Buhari also urged the gathering to "promote media and information literacy as a viable development intervention to nurture trust, social protection, and solidarity; accelerate the pace of people's access to media and information literacy in parallel to universal digital connectivity; promote media and information literacy as a key component for the exercise of fundamental human rights; popularise the new UNESCO resource Global Standards for Media and Information Literacy Curricula Development Guidelines; develop innovative ways to bridge inequalities in assessing media and information literacy and develop partnerships and provide funding to strengthen trust and solidarity in media and information literacy development at all levels of societies and, encourage and promote media and information literacy policy at organisational, institutional, national, and regional levels in ensuring equitable and ethical access to quality information."
In his welcome remarks, the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said MIL is aimed at equipping citizens with the ability to critically evaluate and wisely use the information at their disposal.
"This is very important in a digital era of information overload because it allows us all to differentiate what is true from what is false," he said.
Also, the director-general of UNESCO, Audrey Azouley, lamented the prevalence of fake news and misinformation globally.
Azouley said fake news has led to genocide and has incited violence, hatred, and discrimination.
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She said, "Whether or not we can practice that right seems to be in great part, at least in the hands of tech companies. Some of you may be familiar with Amnesty International's damning report entitled The Social Atrocity, which explains how matters content shaping algorithms, proactively amplified and promoted content on the Facebook platform which incited violence, hatred, and discrimination against the Rohingya.
"It will not have been the first time in history that media technology no matter how elaborate, is used to spread hate to discriminate and conduct ethnic cleansing, genocide, or other atrocities."
Also in his address, the assistant director-general of communication and information UNESCO, Dr Tawfik Jelassi stressed the need to ensure that information is of public good.
He stressed the need to work with technology companies, digital platform operators, and the parties that put the information online and disseminate it worldwide.
