The Federal Government on Tuesday, urged Nigerians, especially those in public office, to prioritize acquiring media and information literacy skills to safeguard against the dangers of misinformation.
This call was made by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, during his remarks at the second Spokespersons Summit hosted by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
He expressed concern over the increasing vulnerability of citizens to misinformation and biased narratives, attributing it largely to the absence of adequate media literacy.
“In today’s media-saturated world the ability to analyze, decipher and evaluate information is no longer optional,” the minister stressed.
He lamented that the lack of this essential skill has left both public officials and the general public susceptible to the harmful effects of falsehoods and disinformation.
“Lately, due in effect to the lack of media literacy, the inability to analyse and contextualize media content in order to verify authenticity, public officers, and indeed the general public, have become prone to the cankerworm of fake news, misinformation and disinformation,” he stated.
To combat this challenge, Idris revealed that plans are in top gear to establish a Media and Information Literacy Institute in Nigeria under the auspices of UNESCO.
The proposed institute will be situated within the National Open University of Nigeria premises in Abuja.
“In fact, I have just returned from Paris, France where I held a meeting with senior UNESCO officials, in which the impending take-off of the Institute featured prominently,” he disclosed.
Idris also highlighted a significant milestone achieved by his ministry—the formal recognition of Public Relations as a distinct cadre within the Federal Civil Service.
“As part of my efforts to deepen professional practice and improve the quality of engagement in the delivery of public communication, the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, last year, succeeded in the caderisation of Public Relations in the Federal Civil Service,” he said. “What this means is that Public Relations has now been designated as a standalone cadre in the Federal Civil Service, with effect from December 2023, and that,” the minister added.
The summit, organized in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, drew a notable crowd of dignitaries, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, former Minister Lai Mohammed, other former ministers, and several serving lawmakers.
