We are crippled in war against fake news – FG

Federal government on Tuesday lamented that its Ministry of Information is incapacitated in the war against fake news, disinformation and hate speech ravaging Nigeria now .

The Minister of Information and Culture , Alhaji Lai Mohammed  made this known during the 2023 budget defence session his ministry and relevant agencies had with the Senate Committee on Information.

The Minister told the lawmakers that the recent terror alarm raised in Nigeria  by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and others affected the nation’s economy .

He appealed to the Committee that his ministry requires adequate funding to fight fake news, disinformation and hate speech, the latest being the terror alert raised in Nigeria by the United States of America, United Kingdom, etc.

“If there is any Ministry that should be adequately funded and not suffer from yearly budget cuts, it is the Information Ministry.

“The terror alert raised by America and some other countries against Nigeria , though debunked, but not properly done in terms of putting things in proper context in preventing wrong perception from becoming reality.

“The Ministry is even more incapacitated from discharging its basic functions of getting Nigerians informed at all times as regards position of government on burning issues through yearly budgetary cuts.

“Distinguished Senators, I’m extremely sad as far as yearly budgetary cuts are concerned because it is getting worse  and worse by the day. 

“A worrisome example of this is that while the Information Ministry was given N2.5billion for capital expenditure in 2022, one third of it which is N869million is earmarked for similar purpose in  2023 fiscal year.

“This to us in the Ministry is very depressing because it seems as if it is the main agency bearing the burden of the cash crunch being faced by the government”, he said.

However, the Chairman of the Committee , Senator Danladi Sankara, told him that yearly budget cuts are not limited to the Information Ministry but all MDAs generally since the capital vote component of the federal budget itself dropped from N2.5trillion to N1trillion.