Asaba: Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has charged information managers to key into the information and digital revolution in order to deliver well on the task before them, urging them to use factual information to drown out those who are bent on misinforming Nigerians and making it impossible for them to be a part of the change agenda.
Speaking in Asaba, the Delta State capital during the opening ceremony of the 46th Meeting of National Council on Information, NCI, Mohammed said; “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, 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 feedbacks. “By these tools I am referring to the radio, television, newspapers, movies, mobile phones and the Social Media.
The last two are particularly important, because they are complementary. Almost everything that the Social Media offers can be accessed from your smart phone: Internet, websites, Emails, Facebook, Whatsapps, Twitter, Instagram, video calls, just name it.
“But remember, just as you have access to these tools, others also have. You can only make a difference by staying one step ahead of the pack and using facts to drown out fiction. In the end, if we stay on top of our game, the results will be there for all to see”. Continuing, the Minister said; “Today, with the advent of new information and digital technology, the word ‘’daunting’’ becomes an understatement.
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, right? 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 realize the meaning of the paradox of technology that I spoke about earlier.
In other words, the democratization of the technology of information dissemination has posed new challenges to us”. Declaring the meeting meeting, which has its theme; ‘Leveraging on Information and Digital Technology to Sustain the Change Agenda of Government’, Delta State Governor , Senator Ifeanyi Okowa acknowledged that information is the life wire of organisation, “whether public or private”.
Okowa said “high tech global world dictates that information is classified as a valuable asset”, adding that “when government suffer credibility crisis, the problem is often traceable to improper, inadequate and inefficient information management that creates a chasm and fuels distrust between the governed and their leaders”.
Saying it was incumbent on them “beginning from the Federal level, to articulate a vision for government information management that is clear, concise and measurable”, he said “as information managers, your first responsibility is to ensure fed to the public is complete, accurate, relevant and understandable”.
