MINISTER of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has described his job in the federal cabinet as “daunting”.
Mohammed made this confession when he gave a keynote address at a meeting of APC government information managers at federal and state levels in Lagos today.
The meeting organised by the Progressive Governors Forum was hosted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos.
“Perhaps, the most daunting task anyone can take on in this age and time, is that of information and communication management.
“It is even more daunting when you are engaged in information and communication management for a reformist government like ours.
“As you all know, ‘change’ is the mantra of our party, the APC and change, as we all know, does not come easy,’’ he said.
The minister said that the advent of new information and digital technology had made the job of information and communication management more challenging.
According to him, social media, as a double-edged sword, provides opportunities and challenges in equal measure.
He said while the government had leveraged social media platforms to propagate its activities, it recently suspended the operations of Twitter because of the threat posed by the gross abuse of the platform to the nation’s peace and unity.
“Twitter is the platform of choice for separatist campaigners, especially those of them residing outside the country.
“They use it to issue directives to their followers in Nigeria to attack our security forces as well as to burn police stations and INEC offices.
“It was a tough decision to take, considering that many of our youths also use the platform for business.
“Such is the challenge posed by social media,’’ he said.
Mohammed said that following the request by Twitter, the government had agreed to engage with the microblogging site, without compromising national interest.
He also identified poor funding due to dwindling resources available to the government as part of the challenges facing the information and communication sector.
Mohammed noted that in spite of the challenges, his ministry had deployed several innovations, traditional and modern methods, to project achievements of the administration in the three priority areas of fighting corruption, tackling insecurity and revamping the economy.
