Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has expressed strong disapproval of the unverified security alerts recently issued on Nigeria by some embassies in the country.
Reacting to the security alerts and travel advisories issued against travels to certain states in Nigeria, the Minister, who spoke on Tuesday at the ministerial panel of the on-going UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Week in Abuja, admonished the Nigerian media outlets and social media personalities for spreading the security alerts without verifying its authenticity and consequences.
Speaking as a panelist at the UNESCO session with the topic, “National Media and Information Literacy Frameworks, Sustaining Beyond Disinformation’’, Mohammed stated that the warnings issued by the embassies did not portray the true position of the security situation in Nigeria and were creating unnecessary tension and panic.
According to local media reports, the Minister also condemned the media outfits which fed on the unverified security alerts to attract traffic to their site without considering the effects on the country.
“Some media outlets and social media personalities are usually caught spreading unverified information on their platforms just for click bait and the attendant monetary gain.
“Talking of click bait, this may be what informed the spread of the supposed security alert issued recently by some foreign embassies in Nigeria.
“One would imagine that if indeed this kind of security alert was issued, it was for the attention of citizens of the issuing countries in Nigeria.
“Suddenly, this alert found its way into the media, both new and traditional, thus creating panic in the polity,” he said.
GIK/APA