The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, Professor Woke Soyinka, and other dignitaries are expected to attend a three-day Summit aimed at addressing the issues of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.
The Summit is organised by bloggers, vloggers, and content creators from all 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Dele Anifowoshe, Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of the Summit, issued a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, explaining that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Abbas, and other dignitaries are also expected to participate in the Summit.
The first-ever National Bloggers and Vloggers Summit is scheduled for October 11th to October 13th, 2023, with the theme: “Nigeria’s Consciousness Towards Good Reportage, Constructive Criticism, and National Development: The Role of Bloggers.”
Anifowoshe expressed concern that many bloggers have failed to distinguish between accurate information, misinformation, and disinformation.
“A blogger is someone who writes regularly for an online journal or website. Bloggers write, edit, post, and promote content on their web pages or websites. They generate and pitch ideas, compose and edit posts, market posts to readers, and conduct research. These posts may sometimes fall short of the ethics of good journalism.”
Anifowoshe posed the question of whether bloggers, vloggers, and content creators conduct proper research and investigation before publishing on their websites. He also raised concerns about whether they are more focused on growing their fan base than disseminating credible information.
“The bloggers have been attributed to as being agents of fake news; this assertion may not be entirely true, but the effects of fake news, hate speech, and campaigns of calumny that characterized the last election were most visible in the news perpetrated by online media houses.
Many Very Important Personalities have fallen victim to these clout-chasing online bloggers, and several reports of blackmail have also been reported.”
In an effort to address these challenges, Anifowoshe revealed that the Bloggers National Executive held a recent meeting and resolved “to take a scrupulous scrutiny of the activities of Nigerians on social media, which tend to portray us in a bad light, with false and malicious publications that misrepresent us as a nation.”
“We must be patriotic and embrace Nigerians who have dedicated their lives to serving our fatherland.”
He noted that aside from bloggers and vloggers, other participants expected at the Summit include social media influencers, community-based organisations, civil society organisations, conventional media practitioners, the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), students, and more.
The statement also disclosed that the summit will be organised in partnership with the Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Hon Philip Agbese.
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