THE Kwara State government has revealed plans to introduce additional measures aimed at combating the spread of fake news and baseless rumours among its residents.
The state’s Commissioner for Communications, Bolanle Olukoju, disclosed this at an interactive session with press secretaries across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the ministry’s headquarters in Ilorin, the state capital.
This is coming a few days after The FactCheckHub debunked a false information shared by a resident in the state regarding a flyover project in the state.
Olukoju stressed the need to nip the menace of fake news in the bud, noting that failure to do so could have a devastating impact on societal values and progress.
“So far, the state government has taken various measures to curb fake news, part of which suspected carriers were apprehended by law enforcement agents,” she said.
She noted that press secretaries have been directed to promptly report activities of all agencies of government and provide their phone contacts for public clarification, resulting in positive feedback.
“Furthermore, they are to attach their phone contacts to their press releases, for further clarifications from members of the public. I must be quick to add that feedback from this measure has been tremendous,” she explained.
According to her, the government is compiling the official social media handles of all MDAs and plans to share them with the public to ensure that the public consumes information from verified sources.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
