TALKING POINTS FOR THE HON. MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, ALHAJI LAI MOHAMMED, DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE IN ABUJA ON THURSDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2020
SPIKE IN FAKE NEWS AND DISINFORMATION
There has been a spike in the dissemination of fake news and the use
of disinformation in recent times
This is not accidental: Fake news, disinformation and hate speech have
become the weapons of choice to create tension in the polity and
destabilize the country. And those behind it, the naysayers, are not
about to relent.
For some people, the 2019 elections are not over. They are stuck in
the pre-election mode. And they must continue to use these weapons to
put Nigeria on edge.
We have security challenges and we are tackling them head on. There is
no question about that. But the challenges are being aggravated by
fake news and disinformation, in particular. Those behind this
campaign of fake news and disinformation have also deployed new
tactics, top of which is the recycling of old news items and videos.
A good example is the video of the over 400 young men suspected to be
Boko Haram members who were
intercepted in Abia state in 2014. About two weeks ago, the video came
back into circulation, creating panic in the polity. Their intention
is simple: to create tension and panic in the country.
Other recent instances of fake news:
- that President Muhammadu Buhari will be travelling to the UK for 20
days before proceeding to Saudi Arabia and Austria - that the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, was
attacked at the Rigasa train station in Kaduna - that the Nigerian Air Force killed 250 Boko Haram insurgents.
- that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy is planning
to unveil some new ‘communication regulations’ aimed at recording all
calls, monitoring Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook, etc - Even private individuals have also been victims of this scourge
We will continue to appeal to Nigerians to be circumspect in believing
or circulating these fake news, as we did when we launched our
national campaign against fake news in 2018.
We are also pushing ahead with our plan to sanitize the social media,
working with stakeholders.
By March 2nd 2020, we will inaugurate the stakeholders committee that
will deliberate and recommend the way forward.
We are also planning a major international conference that will bring
together the tech companies, media practitioners, policy makes and
others as part of efforts to tackle this growing canker-worm
Last week, I met with representatives of Google and Facebook for the
same purpose.
The situation is dire, and no nation that values its peace, security
and stability will allow an irresponsible use of the social media.
INSECURITY
As I said earlier, the country is facing security challenges, and the
challenges are being tackled headlong.
However, there have been some red herrings in recent times, including
those calling for the resignation of Mr. President or the sack of the
security chiefs.
I just want to say that the government, which has provided and
continues to provide the military and the security agencies with the
wherewithal, believes in their ability to tackle insecurity. These
challenges will be successfully tackled. I will however advise all
commentators, especially political and religious leaders, to be very
careful at this time not to aggravate the situation with incendiary
comments, comments that cash in on our religious, ethnic and political
fault lines to further divide us. The kind of comments that have been
attributed to some leaders, especially religious leaders, are
incendiary and reckless. Leaders should be part of solutions to
problems, rather than aggravating situations.
To those asking Mr. President to resign, I wish to say this: Mr
President will not resign. He has the overwhelming mandate of
Nigerians to preside over the affairs of the country till the
expiration of his tenure in May 2023.
DISRUPTION OF INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS TO THE MURTALA MOHAMMED
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN LAGOS
In recent times, some international flights billed for the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport in Lagos have diverted to other
airports within and outside the country due to adverse weather
conditions at the airport.
This has led to a debate on the state of the navigational aids at the airport.
First, let me apologize to all our citizens and other travellers who
have had to endure inconveniences resulting from the diversion of
their flights. This is highly regretted.
I will also like to quickly take us through what caused the problem.
In its commitment to passenger safety and security, the Federal
Government has recently taken the decision to upgrade the navigational
facilities at some major airports across the country. Consequently,
the navigational aids at airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port
Harcourt, Asaba, etc. were all marked for an upgrade from Category II
Instrument Landing System (CAT II ILS) to top-of-the-class CAT III
ILS. In the first phase, the CAT III ILS was procured and installed in
Lagos and Abuja. In addition, the government procured a calibration
aircraft instead of renting one each time for $500,000. Both Abuja and
Lagos airports were calibrated. The CAT III ILS is working perfectly
here in Abuja. But after calibration, some incorrect readings were
noticed in the CAT III ILS at the MMA. Just as it was about to be
re-calibrated, the weather situation in Lagos changed for the worse,
hence the disruption of international flights into Lagos.
Some airlines opted to divert their flights to Kotoka International
Airport in Accra, Ghana, which, by the way, does not even have a CAT
III ILS but where the weather was not as adverse as that in Lagos.
Many travellers bound for Nigeria became stranded. Again, this is much
regretted. Of course, the same flights could have diverted to Abuja,
which has a perfectly-functioning CAT III ILS and where flights to
Lagos are regular. But they instead chose to fly to Accra.
Some commentators have alleged that perhaps the CAT III ILS was not
bought or installed in Lagos and Abuja. This is not true. The
equipment was indeed procured and installed in both airports. But for
the hitch I referred to earlier, there would have been no disruptions
at the MMA. Accusation of ineptitude against aviation officials is
misplaced. Otherwise, the Abuja CAT III ILS would not have been
working perfectly now
May I also inform you all that a number of airports around the world,
even in the advance world, don’t even have CAT III ILS. This is
because they feel that because adverse weather is only for a short
period in a year, they don’t feel that the kind of huge cost that is
required to acquire it is justified. Even the Kotoka International
Airport that most flights were diverted to does not have CAT III ILS.
NOTE: When the CAT III ILS in Lagos ran into a hitch, the CAT II ILS
at the runway 18R (international runway) remained the only option. But
with CAT II ILS, pilots can only land their planes with a minimum
visibility of 800 metres, compared to zero visibility for CAT III ILS.
The weather phenomenon that reduced visibility at the International
wing of the MMA is not unique to Nigeria. As some flights were being
diverted from the Lagos airport, over 200 flights were either being
diverted or cancelled at Heathrow in London
I am happy to announce that the two runways at the airport in Lagos have now been calibrated for CAT III ILS and NOTAM sent out
$500 MILLION LOAN
In an era of social media, the real news is usually sacrificed on the
altar of sensationalism and disinformation.
That’s how I will describe the hysteria, in a section of the media,
over the reportage of the $500 million loan being sought from China.
It is wrong to report that the loan is being sought for the NTA alone.
Indeed, the loan is for three major projects
- To construct a headquarters complex and transmission network for
INTEGRATED TELEVISION SERVICES (ITS), the FG-owned signal distributor
that is a major component of the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) - To build an ultra-modern Media City in Ikorodu that will have the
following facilities
- Indoor/Outdoor shooting area
-Animation Production Facility - Digital Media Training Centre
- World Class Cinema
- Four-Star Hotel
- An Amusement Park
- Amphitheater
(b) Acquisition of digital movie production equipment for rental as
well as power system
(c) Media City Training Academy, only the second of its type in Africa
(the first is in Egypt) that will train Nigerian broadcasters and film
makers in the production of high quality media content programmes and
make Nigeria a hub for digital movie production in Sub-Saharan Africa
(3) Digitization of NTA Stations
(a) Digitization of all NTA stations
- Headquarters
- 12 Zonal Stations
- 36 State Capital NTA Stations
- 76 Community Station
(b) Upgrade, purchase and installation of relevant digital TV
broadcasting equipment compatible with DSO products and accessories
that are necessary for the production and broadcast of digital
programme contents, in addition to provision of power system and
manpower training
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S ACCUSATION THAT THE MILITARY BURNT SOME
VILLAGES AND FORCEFULLY DISPLACED THE RESIDENTS
I am aware that the Defence Headquarters has responded appropriately
to this accusation
The military denied razing down villages and detaining locals
unlawfully; that it does not employ arson as an operational tactic;
and that looting and burning of villages is the style of Boko Haram
Terrorists
I will like to add that in carrying out their duties, Amnesty
International should not cast themselves in the league of Boko Haram
and ISWAP terrorists. They should stop the growing practice of
constantly attacking the military and casting them as the bad guys,
when all they are doing is putting their lives on the line to fight
terrorists who have no respect for the sanctity of life, who willfully
go after women and children, who attack houses of worship without
respect or allegiance to any religion. Amnesty International should
stop providing succour for terrorists by attributing their atrocities
to our troops. Our soldiers, who are defending the country, are guided
by extant rules of engagement and operational codes of conduct. They
should not be made to look like the aggressors here.
I am aware that the Federal Government has always taken seriously any
allegation of rights violation by soldiers or other security forces.
Investigations have been carried out and culprits, if any, punished.
And it is a continuous process.
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