Minister tasks government information managers on challenges of digital technology

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has challenged government information managers to boldly take on the challenges posed by the new information and digital technology system in order to tackle purveyors of falsehood and also to saturate the various platforms offered by social media with factual information.

Mohammed gave this charge in Asaba, Delta State, last Friday at the opening of the 46th National Council on Information, which had as theme ‘Leveraging on Information and Digital Technology to Sustain the Change Agenda of Government.’ He said the theme is a reminder of the ‘paradox of technology’ that has resulted from the new information order, adding: ‘’On one hand, information and digital technology provides us with great opportunities. On the other hand, it is fraught with great challenges. We are, therefore, being tasked, on a daily basis, with how to balance this paradox and make the best of it.

“We must key into the information and digital revolution in order to better deliver on the tasks before us. We must use factual information to drown out those who are bent on misinforming our people and making it impossible for them to be a part of the change agenda. We must always stay ahead of the pack. We must be proactive rather than be reactive.

‘’We must never let down our guard because, for information managers, there should be no down time. This is because while you are fast asleep, those who will make your task impossible are fully awake! We must understand and harness the enormous powers of the traditional and the new tools of information dissemination to communicate the activities of government and also get feedback”.

Mohammed said governments at all levels must provide their information managers with adequate resources, training and re-training and the state-of-the-art facilities they require to do their work. He noted that even though the new media has become the fastest and most convenient way of disseminating public information, it has also, sadly, become platforms for some people to distort information and mislead the public.

According to him, “Yes, cashing in on the still evolving new information and digital technology will undoubtedly facilitate our work. The multiplicity, immediacy and pervasiveness of the platforms of information dissemination mean that we can reach more people much faster. That should be a good thing. But when you remember that those who are trying hard to distort the information you are putting out also have access to the same technology, you will realise the meaning of the paradox of technology that I spoke about earlier. In other words, the democratisation of technology of information dissemination has posed new challenges to us”.

The minister also expressed concern about how social media has become an all-comers affair, dominated by emergency purveyors of information, who ply their trade without engaging in the rigours of accuracy, fact-checking and fairness imposed by the traditional media, saying information managers must strive to reverse the trend.

He cited the report that claimed that ‘Change Begins With Me’, the national reorientation campaign, which was launched by President Buhari last month, has so far cost the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture N3.4 billion, as an example of false information, wondering how a ministry with a total capital budget of less than N2 billion in 2016 would spend N3.4 billion on just one project.

Mohammed also informed the gathering that the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, which the ministry has embarked upon, offers immense possibilities and opportunities in the way information will be disseminated, saying with over 24 million television households, critical information can be passed on to the citizenry through the Set-Top Boxes’ information portal at the push of a button and at little or no cost.

He said as change agents, information managers must understand the concept of change itself before they could mobilise the society to change, in line with the Change Agenda of the present administration.