Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, has stated that the government’s goal is to foster healthy communication rather than strangle free expression.
The minister said this on October 12, 2023, when a Google West Africa team paid him a courtesy visit.
The Minister agreed that having a forum for unrestricted expression is crucial, but he also noted that freedom carries a heavy burden and shouldn’t be used as a pretext for fostering chaos in the nation.
Idris stated that the federal government will continue to foster free expression by creating a climate in which everyone could express themselves and have access to information.
In his words:
“It is critical that those who are responsible for bringing out this information or creating the platforms are also very conscious of the fact that it can easily be used against the people it is meant to serve.”
“We will partner with Google in promoting the free flow of information because democracy cannot survive without freedom of expression.”
He praised Google for their efforts and indicated that the Ministry will continue to work with them and others in their field to ensure that the issue of false news is eradicated.
Mr. Olumide Balogun, the chairman of the Google West Africa delegation, mentioned in his remarks that over the last three years, Google has educated over 3,500 journalists to utilise various tools for news verification, including digital tools to handle disinformation.
“We have the Google News integration team that helps news organizations across the world, including Nigeria through what is called ‘Google Innovation Challenge’ to innovate and introduce new innovations to news organizations, one of the innovations that we funded, called ‘full fact’ is an AI technology that helps in fact-checking”.
cc: Daily Post Ng
