Fake News, Bigger Threat Than Insurgency, Militancy – Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said
the threat posed by the fake news phenomenon is greater than that
posed by insurgency and militancy, hence the need for the military to
strategise on how to counter it with the same vigour with which it
confronted Boko Haram.

The Minister stated this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 7th National
Security Seminar of the Alumni Association of the National Defence
College.

“I see a greater threat to Nigeria and the threat is greater than
insurgency and militancy, and that is fake news. I think anybody who
is a student of history or military history will agree with me that no
war has ever been started by bullets or bows and arrows. Every war has
been started by words.

“This phenomenon of fake news is a serious issue and I think the Armed
Forces should also pay a great attention to it,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed urged the military to devise a robust communication
strategy and deploy more and capable personnel to the Social Media to
wage a cyber warfare against fake news.

“This is why I believe that whatever we do today in fighting terrorism
and insurgency, we must pay adequate attention to communication
strategy. We must have our people who will be very active also on the
Social Media,” he said.

The Minister said he had cause to debunk certain fake news in the
Social Media recently when some people attempted to set Christians
against Muslims by claiming that Nigeria is the most dangerous place
for Christians to live in.

He warned that such unfounded allegation is capable of tearing the
fabric of the society and causing conflict in the country.

“Two things happened last week (to illustrate the phenomenon of fake
news). Both Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande went to
visit the President in London and a few hours later some naysayers
said Asiwaju has denied that he ever visited the President. It took
Asiwaju’s quick rebuttal of the naysayers to set the record straight.

“(Secondly) when U.S. President Donald Trump made a call to President
Muhammadu Buhari, the naysayers again went on the Social Media to say
it never happened. It took the intervention of the White House to
confirm that President Trump indeed had a phone conversation with his
Nigerian counterpart,” Alhaji Mohammed said..

In his address, the Commandant, National Defence College, Rear Admiral
S. Alade, said having technically defeated the Boko Haram insurgency,
there is the need for the Armed Forces to brainstorm with a view to
consolidating on the successes so far recorded against terrorism.