FG worried over cybersecurity gaps: NDPC probes payment ecosystem breach - ITREALMS Online

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The Honourable Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has outlined a coordinated national framework for the establishment of a Cybersecurity Coordination Council, aimed at stripping away the hiding places for cybercriminals within the Nigeria's digital space, reports ITREALMS.

This initiative emerged as a standard prerequisite for national development, prioritizing collective resilience over fragmented, traditional shadows. “Cybersecurity is a shared national responsibility,” Dr. Tijani stated, emphasizing that protecting the digital economy requires an irreducible commitment to trusted collaboration across government, industry, and civil society.

APRA decries terror attack in Burkina Faso, worried about Mpox in DRC - ITREALMS

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The African Public Relations Association (APRA) has earnestly condemned the recent terror attack in the Burkinabe town of Barsalogho in the Sanmatenga Province of the Republic, reports ITREALMS.
recovery.

The attack, ITREALMS gathered left so many people dead and a score injured.

2023: ECOWAS, WANEP decry Nigeria’s political instability, worried - ITREALMS

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The Economy Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) have raised concerns over Nigeria’s failing democracy and her incompetencies in leading the African continent politically

With insecurities ravaging the country and tensions, especially among political parties, Amb. Aderemi Ajibewa, Director, of Political Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, said elections have the potential of aggravating existing fault lines in societies; hence the need for stakeholders' engagement in electoral processes.

AMI worried over surge in attacks against African journalists - ITREALMS:

ITREALMS:

The media fraternity across the continent, under the aegis of African Media Initiative (AMI) has expressed worries over the surge in attacks against African journalists, reports ITREALMS.

AMI, ITREALMS gathered, said it learnt with great concern the growing curtailment of media freedom in many African countries, including Cameroon, Sudan, Egypt and Tanzania.

Cameroon
In the last four weeks, eight journalists - Joseph Olinga, Michel BiemTong, Gustave Flaubert Kengne, Michel Kalabassou, Mimi Mefo, Josiane Kouagheu, Akumbom McCarthy, and Mathias Mouende have been intimidated, arrested, or tried before military courts across the country over allegations of ‘propagating false information’ or ‘undermining the safety of the State’ under the antiterror law.

Cameroon has seen, over the years, an accelerated shrinking of the democratic space where both journalists and citizens are having to compose with a difficult environment.

Egypt

In Egypt, a law enacted last month has been widely criticised as tantamount to extortion of media houses as it requires hefty registration amounts for licenses with websites being forced to pay more than $30,000 to register and up to five times that amount for non-compliance. The law is viewed as an attempt by the government to silence the remaining independent media.

Sudan

On 29 October, the Press Court in Khartoum sentenced Zine El Abeen Al-A'jab, a former editor of Al Mustagila newspaper to one and a half months in prison, or a fine of 5,000 pounds ($104) over “dissemination of false information” among other charges.

Overall, according to Amnesty International, at least 15 journalists have been arrested and detained between January and October 2018 by the government’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISS). In addition, the entire print run of 10 newspapers was confiscated on at least 27 occasions. Al Jareeda, one of the last independent newspapers, has been confiscated at least 13 times this year.

Tanzania

On 7 November, South African journalist Angela Quintal, Africa programme coordinator for press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and her Kenyan colleague Muthoki Mumo were arrested from their hotel in Dar-es-Salaam and detained by authorities for 24 hours.

Rights groups and media advocates have recently expressed concerns about the freedom of expression in the country since election three years ago of Tanzania’s President, John Magufuli, whose regime has cracked down on independent media and close down critical newspapers.

Earlier in 2018, the government approved a new law regulating online content that gives them the right to revoke the permit if a website publishes content “that leads to public disorder” and “threatens national security”, according to media report.

It should be recalled that freedom of the press and right of people to information are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa.

Governments in Africa have a duty to refrain from undue interference with the right to media freedom and must promote and protect citizens’ rights of access to information.

In view of the above, African Media Initiative (AMI) reiterated that intimidation of journalists, harassment, arbitrary detentions, closures, internet cuts, media closure, censorship, and trials of journalists before military courts over crimes allegedly committed while discharging their duties contravene international treaties and covenants protecting the freedom of the press and the public’s right of access to information.

Also, AMI called on African governments to create a conducive environment for a free exercise of the media profession  and demanded the immediate release of journalists arrested across the continent.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Fake News worries FG, prepares IOs

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The Federal Government is seemingly worried over the menace of fake news, and is preparing the Information Officers (IOs) on how to effectively counter this effect with fact-based narratives, reports ITRealms.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this disclosure in Abuja Wednesday in his key note address at a capacity building Workshop for Strategic Communication Liaison Officers, with the theme "Mainstreaming Strategic Communication Across Government for National Security."

He said though the Social Media has proved to be a powerful tool of public communication, it is plagued with challenges, particularly the prevalence of fake news which makes it imperative for Information Officers to brace up and overcome the challenge.

''Faced with the prevalence of fake news, we took action by preparing Information Officers with the skills to identify and counter such fake news through engagement and counter narrative. Information Officers are assigned to monitor both online and offline news media to identify such fake news and develop timely and credible counter narratives to respond to such fake news,'' Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said the Federal Government is also implementing a robust strategic communication framework, with feedback mechanism, to interface with Nigerians on the policies and programmes of government.

"For example, we engage through Town Hall Meetings across the six geo-political zones to inform Nigerians and the international community about our programmes and to listen to criticism, feedback and advice from the citizens.

''Through these meetings, we are able to shape policy and improve on delivering our promises to the people. The town hall meetings, undoubtedly, have yielded positive results with the kind of direct feedback we received from Nigerians. These interactions with Nigerians underscore the importance this administration attaches to the people in carrying them along in the task of governance," the Minister said.

He underscored the critical role of Information Officers in strengthening government communication to achieve national strategic objectives, particularly in managing the image, reputation and promoting the cultures of the people of Nigeria through a dynamic public information system.

He said because of the dynamics of public communication, ''the ministry is leveraging on various Social Media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter and Instagram to reach our audiences, especially the youths. These Social Media platforms also provide unique opportunity for the Ministry to aggregate and gauge public opinions and perceptions of government."

The National Security Adviser, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Ambassador Aminu Nabegu, challenged participants to come up with a strategic communication plan to counter the propaganda and negative narratives by terror and anti-state groups.

He said the present administration has eliminated inter-agency rivalry in order to achieve seamless and coordinated approach to effective communication.

The Workshop was organized by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) to build the capacity of Strategic Communication Liaison Officers (SC/LO) across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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