President Bola Tinubu has urged the media to fast check information before releasing it to the public.
The president who spoke during the NGE conference in Akwa Ibom state on Wednesday said misinformation threatens the “fabric of our society”.
The theme of the NGE Conference 2023 is “Stimulating Economic Growth, Technological Advancement: The role of the Media”.
According to the president, represented by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris it’s the duty of the media “to combat this menace through fact-checking, responsible reporting, and promoting media and digital literacy,” in order to combat false narratives by some section of the media.
On the part of the government, Tinubu said he has tasked the Ministry of Information and National Orientation to sensitize Nigerians on the need to change the erosion of national value, and systemic moral decline by changing “the narrative in our country through the implementation of a sustained mass reorientation”.
“It is our collective duty to combat this menace through fact-checking, responsible reporting, and promoting media and digital literacy with which we can fortify our defences against the corrosive effects of a false narrative,” he said.
The president stated further, “Against the background of imminent systemic moral decline over a long period leading to the erosion of our national values, it’s my pleasure to inform you that the Ministry of Information and National Orientation is working to change the narrative in our country through the implementation of a sustained mass reorientation campaign that aims to foster unity, patriotism and promotion of positive values among Nigerians
“We seek to collectively reorientate ourselves as Nigerians in the direction of a stronger sense of national identity and shared values. I will therefore appeal to all our Editors to support this campaign for national rectitude among Nigerians.”
