The sum of N104,532,705 has been proposed for use by the Federal Government to fight fake news, hate speech and other related ills in the country.
The said amount was allocated in the 2022 appropriation budget published on the website of the Nigerian Budget Office.
The budget record shows that the sum of N55,642,215 would be used for special enlightenment campaign on government’s programmes and policies, as well as testimonial series to gauge impact of government policies on the citizenry.
Part of it would be allocated to advocacy against fake news, hate speech, farmers-herders clashes, banditry, rape etc.
The sum of N48,890,490 is scheduled for quarterly interaction with foreign media and PR lobby.
In an earlier interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, stated that Nigeria had graduated from ordinary fake news to ‘deep’ fake news being used to wage war against the government and its officials.
Mohammed has been vehement against the activities of perpetrators of fake news and hate speech.
He had said that at the beginning, purveyors of deep fake news were largely unknown online publications, adding that it was, however, unfortunate that otherwise reputable publications and some mainstream media had joined the bandwagon while adding that citizens found guilty would be sanctioned.
