Threats from fake news and hate speech to Nigerian culture, say NBC and NOA

Alarm has been expressed about the spread and consumption of fake news in Nigerian society by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

The Abia State Director of NOA, Mrs. Regina Iroha, and the management of the agency paid a courtesy call to the office of the NBC, and the two federal organisations immediately raised the alert in Umuahia.

She denounced the presence of fake news, particularly on social media, and enlisted the help of the NBC office in Abia State to combat the problem in accordance with the agency’s mandate of news censorship.

Iroha revealed that the NOA had been tasked with educating the women and youth of the Abia Central Senatorial District to create a people of peace.

She announced that her agency was working to stop the nation’s fake news and hate speech from being produced and disseminated.

In response, the State Director of NBC, Mrs. Ima Ubom, highlighted that false information and other misleading components have turned into sources of danger and divisive actions in society.

Ubom, who insisted that immediate and strong action must be made to counter these dangers, praised the NOA for its efforts to create a society based on peaceful coexistence.

She continued, saying that NBC has been fulfilling its obligations as a regulatory body by stopping the broadcast and dissemination of fake news, and that it has also continued its campaign against hate speech.