THE Minister of Information,Lai Mohammed, warns that fake news is capable of destabilising countries as well as government policies if not checked.
“Fake news if left unchecked like I said, has the capacity to bring even war to countries,” Mohammed said on Friday when he visited the corporate headquarters of Channels Television in Lagos, as part of the Federal Government’s campaign against the incidence of fake news.
“We all saw what happened in Rwanda where over 800 innocent lives were lost to fake news and hate speeches.
“In Nigeria here, we’ve seen that fake news has aggravated the natural political fault lines of ethnicity and religion”.
He further stated that “even the BBC, came out with the outcome of its research that the so-called herdsmen/ farmers clashes is actually being aggravated by fake news”.
The Minister, therefore, stressed that the Federal Government will not back down in its resolve to ensure that fake news is curtailed in the country.
He also stated that the campaign against the trend will go round all media houses including print and electronic.