FG trains information officers to tackle fake news

Worried by virulent attacks it has been receiving from social media platform, the Federal Government yesterday organised a training workshop for information officers to tackle the challenges posed by social media.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had last week raised alarm of plan by social media platform to undermine the Muhammadu Buhari’s ‎government.

‎Alhaji Mohammed who addressed the workshop participants said though the social media has proved to be a powerful tool of public communication, it was plagued with challenges, particularly fake news.

“Faced with the prevalence of fake news, we took action by preparing information officers with the skills to identify and counter such fake news through engagement and counter narrative.
“Information officers are assigned to monitor both online and offline news media to identify such fake news and develop timely and credible counter narratives,” the minister stated.

He however, noted that because of the dynamics of public communication, his ministry would leverage “on various social media platforms like‎ Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter and Instagram to reach our audiences, especially the youths.”

This, according to him, was because of the opportunity these social media platforms provided to the ministry to aggregate and gauge public opinions and perceptions of government.

He also stated that the Federal Government was implementing a robust strategic communication framework, with feedback mechanism, to interface with Nigerians on the policies and programmes of government.
Alhaji Mohammed‎ underscored the critical role of information officers in strengthening government communication to achieve national
strategic objectives, particularly in managing the image, reputation and promoting the cultures of the people of Nigeria through a dynamic
public information system.
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The National Security Adviser, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Ambassador Aminu Nabegu, challenged participants to come up with a strategic communication plan to counter
the propaganda and negative narratives by terror and anti-state groups.He said the present administration has eliminated inter-agency rivalry in order to achieve seamless and coordinated approach to effective communication.
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