FG, professionals must checkmate spread of fake news ― Experts

THE Federal Government, media practitioners and other stakeholders have been called upon to put in place measures that would check the spread of fake news in Nigeria before the menace inflict negative injury on the unity of the country.

This was the core of discussion of presentation, charge and contributions of guest speaker, organiser and participants at a one-day event organised by Light Powered Forum, an intellectual arm of Full Light House Ministry, Ibadan, held at Apex Event centre, American quarters, Yidi, Gate, Ibadan.

The third-anniversary lecture themed: “Statehood and the challenges of fake news in Nigeria” was delivered by Mrs Bisi Yomi-Layinka of the Centre for Media Resources in Development (CEMERDEV) and a retired postman, Mr Taye Olaniyi.

Mrs Yomi-Layinka posited that it is unfortunate that Nigerians seems not to know the extent of damage fake news is causing the society, hence their recourse in yet to see how dangerous such is to the Nigeria system.

She said, “fake news is bad, dangerous and can divide Nigeria. We must put in place measures to checkmate it before it destroys our country and causes more damage than what it is currently doing.

“We have seen situations where news items and pictures which has no relationship with the Nigerian community have been used to illustrate Nigerian context. This has caused us a lot of pains, even not excluding the perpetrators of the items, so we must all come to the realisation that we must checkmate it before it destroys us. We must all verify the information before passing it across in this technology age.”

The Project Coordinator, Light Powered Forum, an intellectual arm of Full Light House Ministry, Mr Oluwaseun Omopo, said the objective of the organisers in gathering experienced professionals in the media to educate and inform the public on the menace of fake news in Nigeria.

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Omopo said, “our mission is to enlighten the public on the statehood and challenges of fake news. We actually realised that our society is so much engrossed with fake information, discard information in terms of videos, pictures and all sorts of information that are used to misinform the public for one’s monetary, financial or emotional gain.

“So, we see it as our responsibility to enlighten the public on the impact of fake news in our society, individuals and every sector of the economy.”

The chairman of the occasion, Agbaakin Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oloye Lekan Alabi said fake news is not limited to the technology age, recalling the news which announced the death of the former President of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe in the early 1980s.

He advised that media professionals and government regulatory agencies must all work together to ensure that the cankerworm is nabbed at its infant’s age in the country.

Also, Mr Taye Olaniyi gave an impetus of professionals in consulting libraries and archives in writing speeches and addresses in order to curb fake statistics while preparing addresses of government spokesperson whose statement are taken as police papers or statement in Nigeria.

The highlight of the event is the award of excellence to Dr Laolu Ogunniyi, Mrs Bisi Yomi-Layinka, Oloye Lekan Alabi and Mr Taye Olaniyi.