BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – Concerned about the need to check the incidences of FAKE NEWS in the country and the negative image it is casting on journalism practice in the country, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigeria Union of Journalism (NUJ), have agreed to collaborate towards addressing the menace frontally.
The collaboration will witness the NITDA providing eligible journalists with the latest technological tools with which they will carry out their jobs professionally in line with international best practices.
The partnership was agreed upon when the National President of the NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo led some members of the Union on a visit to the Director General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa during which both bodies stressed the relevance of emerging technologies in journalism and decried the adverse effect of FAKE NEWS which the NUJ President described as “unimaginable and a huge threat” to the profession.
In his brief remarks, Chief Isiguzo said noted that with the advent of the social media, anybody can claim to be a journalist without knowing the basic ethics of the profession.
Isiguzo while applauding NITDA for the different training sessions for journalists in Jigawa, Kano, Gombe, Kebbi among other States, said the NUJ want the programme expanded for wider coverage and participation.
He said; “A journalist that is not exposed to constant training and retraining programmes is danger to the society and that’s why we must applaud what you are doing. We are also asking that we take it beyond and accommodate more of our people so that they will also benefit. That way, such issues about FAKE NEWS which of course is about misinformation, disinformation and the rest of them would be effectively tackled”.
The NUJ President also appealed for digital facilities to be provided for the Union’s National Secretariat and its training institute, the International Institute of Journalism in order to aid optimal operations.
According to Isiguzo; “There is the need that we get those facilities because most of our colleagues especially those operating online portals don’t have offices and that is why the umbrella body must provide a shade and is providing such to everybody that comes.
“When you have these people operate within one enclave, regulation become easier. So, we also want to demonstrate some level of control that is why we are asking for your assistance with some of these facilities and I believe that it will go a long way in also helping the government and its message against fake news”.
The belief is that the partnership forged during the meeting will ultimately be a step closer towards making journalism practice in Nigeria more technologically driven and devoid of unprofessionalism while NITDA achieves some of its seven pillars in the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP- 2021-2024) including Digital Literacy and Skills.
Responding, the NITDA Director General, Mr. Inuwa said that even the agency is saddled with the mandate of regulating the use of Information Technology (IT) in the country, the responsibility has gone beyond establishing the DOs and DON’Ts due to the dynamic nature of technology.
Inuwa noted that technology can either be used as a tool or a weapon thus, stressed the need to up the ante in making journalists get acclimatized with requisite skills and ‘technology know how, adding that we need to always reskill, update our knowledge and understand how the technology works in order to harness the potentials and use it for better things.
He further said; “Because technology can be used as either a tool or a weapon. So, it is left for the user to decide what should drive the purpose. Everyone has a part to play in ensuring that unscrupulous elements do not misuse the tech to mislead the people”.
While describing journalism as the best medium to sensitize the public with regards to government policy direction and programmes particularly in present day, the NITDA boss said the partnership would greatly be beneficial to both parties.
In his words; “As a government, we have an ambitious target of achieving 95 percent digital literacy by 2030. It is not possible for us to train 95 percent of the population on one on one basis. So, we need to be innovative, we need to find a way of leveraging on organizations like yours to achieve that because if we can have people writing about digital literacy, the reach would be far more wider than what we can do as a government.
“So, that is why we had already even started engaging your members in some states of the federation with training and letting them know they have a responsibility of helping the government in sanitizing the system so that we can address the challenges of fake news misinformation and disinformation”.
On the forthcoming National Executive Council/ Workshop on Digital Journalism being organized by the NUJ, the NITDA boss expressed interest in the planned programme and assured the body of the agency’s support just as he advised the NUJ to work out the modalities for the interventions/trainings.
