Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, has vowed that the government of President Bola Tinubu will not subject the press to censorship.
Malagi said this in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday.
Noting that the present administration has no plans to control the media, Malagi, however, emphasized that media practitioners must maintain appropriate conduct.
According to him, the president is a democrat who has profited from the media and would not tell them how to conduct their work.
He said, “You can see that already happening, who has been pressured? Which broadcast station has been pressured? Which newspaper house has been pressured?
“Nobody will be pressured, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a democrat as you know and he is a product of communication because he has relied over the years on the media to also shape him as he is. So, why would he now come back and say ‘do it this way’?
“Nobody has been pressured and there is no intention whatever to do that. We believe you allow people to say things the way they are provided that what they have said is also absolutely true. Truthfulness, honesty, and responsibility in government communication is two-way.”
On the dissemination of false information on social media, the minister stated that it is not a Nigerian-specific problem and that the government is addressing it in its own manner.
He added that the UN is releasing guidelines for social media use that all nations should follow in order to combat false information.
Malagi noted that it is important that the security agents look at the situation in a way that will allow both media practitioners and the people they are reporting to have a secure environment to operate.
