By Olawale Ajimotokan
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has disclosed that 476 websites set up to fight the federal government have been uncovered.
He assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was doing everything possible to restore peace and security in the country.
The minister made this yesterday in Abuja, while receiving the management of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) on a courtesy visit to his office.
“It will amaze you that recently, we unveiled almost 476 online publication sites that are dedicated to daily engaging in churning out fake news to fight the government,” he said.
“The latest which I found ridiculous is the one that said days ago, that they had information that when Mr President was in the UK the last time, he was advised to step down because he could not even recognise members of his immediate family.
“I begin to wonder how they can go this far, simply because they know that people are gullible and they will make the fake news to go viral.”
Mohammed has also accused an unnamed Nigerian firm of Public Relations consultants of misinforming the world in the celebrated dispute involving the federal government and Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), which led a UK independent tribunal to award in 2017 the award damages amounting to about $9.6 billion against the country for reneging on agreed terms on a gas facility contract.
According to a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, the minister told the NIPR executives that the administration was working to curb insecurity in the country because security will fuel development.
“Without security, there can be no development and that’s why this administration is doing everything possible to return peace and security across the country,” he said.
He then called on the NIPR to also play their part in ensuring that the country was peaceful and secured.
He said, “Each of us in our respective positions has a role to play to tone down the rhetoric and reduce the tension (in the polity), and I am glad that NIPR is lending its platform to work with the government to ensure that we have a country, which is peaceful and which is secured.”
While urging NIPR to support the fight against fake news, the minister did not spare words when he excoriated some members of the institute for placing pecuniary interest and personal motive above patriotism and nationalism.
He recalled that it was the Nigerian PR firm that was hired to convey the impression to the world that the country indeed entered into an agreement with P&ID and actually reneged to warrant the award of the enormous damages against the country.
