By Correspondent in Ilorin.
With conscious efforts being made by government and NGOs to check the spread of fake news in the country, the Governor of Kwara state, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, has added his voice to the clarion call against the menace by urging media practitioners to be wary of fake news and imbibe the culture of objective reportage of events.
The governor made the call on Wednesday, while receiving Mallam Yushau Shuaib, the founder of Image Marchant Promotions Limited (IMPR) team – Publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, who paid him a courtesy visit.
He expressed delight over reportage of events by PRNigeria, described the media outfit usually present its reports in a factual, fair and accurate manner,especially in the aspect of fact- checks and identification of fake news.
The Governor expressed the resolve of his administration to work with PRNigeria, in terms of awareness creation on the state government’s activities and capacity building for government officials in the state ministries, departments and agencies and to join hands with the organization to tackle and end the menace of fake news in the country.
Abdulrazak commended the work PRNigeria and Economic Confidential had done over the years in giving reliable and credible information on security matters, adding that he had always thought the platform was a federal government agency.
Earlier, Mallam Shuaib,explained that IMPR, in conjunction with Penlight Centre, was organizing a three-day workshop on Digital Journalism, Media Ethics and Responsible Reporting for Journalists in the state.
According to him, the programme, supported by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); with the endorsement of Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, would train conventionaljournalists and online ones, on latest technological took for journalism in selected states.
Shuaib,who said that the organization decided to choose Kwara as one of the states for the Workshop for its economic stability, security and ongoing developmental strides under the administration of the governor, lauded the Governor for equitable distributions of key appointments and execution of projects in every senatorial districts in the state.
He noted that besides initiating new projects, the state government was completing abandoned ones,in addition to constructing more road networks, reviving state media organisations as well as ensuring huge investments in education and health sectors.
Highpoint of the courtesy visit was the presentation of some publications of the organization to the Governor which include the latest edition of Economic Confidential Magazine and two books written by two editors of the organization titled,”Digital Innovation for Economic Prosperity in Nigeria” and “101 Fake News on EndSARS.”
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
