The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the spate of fake news has assumed frightening proportion and has affected Nigeria’s image globally.
The minister made this known during the inauguration of Aso Television (TV) Station and Aso Radio ultra modern studio in Abuja, yesterday.
He called on media practitioners to rise up to the challenge and place national interest above any primordial ones.
“We want to challenge our journalists to know that the spread of fake news today, that is aimed generally at the public, is undermining our international image. You cannot paint your country as having incompetent leadership and expect the country to be respected internationally. We are not asking that the freedom of information should be breached or that we will censor the media. We are appealing to the media to self-regulate or it will self destroy itself The reputation of this industry is going down because of fake news and this is a real danger to our unity. Nigeria comes first before every other interest…”