Nigerians destroying country with negative, fake news: Pantami

The minister said the trend was affecting the global perception of the country negatively and curtailing investment and growth.

Harun Babaizhi • OCTOBER 25, 2022

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami                                                                                                  The minister stated the position on Tuesday in Abuja at a ministerial panel of the ongoing UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Week.

Speaking on the topic, “National Media and Information Literacy Frameworks, Sustaining Beyond Disinformation,” Mr Pantami expressed worries about how the media released unverified negative information about the country.

He said the trend was affecting the global perception of the country negatively and curtailing investment and growth.

Mr Pantami said the advent of new media had aggravated the growing trend of misinformation and fake news and the perception of media globally.

According to him, with new media, everyone has become a journalist while people will sit in the comfort of their homes and concoct whatever they wish, without editorial review or verification and dish it out for public consumption.

The minister said it was unfortunate that people lived in a world where negative news spread like wildfire and being consumed voraciously.

The minister gave the example of a recent development where the United States Mission in Nigeria issued a security alert over the risk of terror attacks in Nigeria.

He said without verification or considering the negative effects of such an alert, both traditional and online media circulated the information freely.

“Most of the schools yesterday were shut down, but we are grateful to the Almighty God nothing happened.

“This type of unverified information has its dire implication on the economic development of our country as well as its perception globally,” he said.

Mr Pantami cautioned that the developed countries that were issuing the unverified security alerts had their security challenge, including school shootings, but they managed it effectively.

In addressing the challenge, the minister recommended societal reorientation that would focus more on self-regulation.

He said journalists must also wake up to their responsibilities and understand that they practised a noble profession that operated fairly and objectively.

Mr Pantami added that the way and manner people behaved and communicated offline should be reflected in the way they behaved and communicated online.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, made presentations at the event, while the UK Minister of Tech and Digital Economy, Damian Collins, participated virtually.