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By NAN

“We have made reports to various security organisations on this and a lot of things are being done to track them…”

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the government is deploying many strategies to contain fake news among which are campaigns to media houses and cooperation with Facebook and Google.

Mohammed, who was featured on a Nigeria Television Authority programme, ‘Tuesday Live,’ said the government would not be distracted by fake news in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“On Facebook, for instance, anytime we flag any particular item or story it will be stamped “FAKE” and be removed from the platform and this has gone a long way in checkmating this pandemic,” he said.

“We have made reports to various security organisations on this and a lot of things are being done to track them.

“However, what is needed is to be educating Nigerians to shun these purveyors and know that there are only two sources for credible information on COVID-19.

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“It is either from the daily media conference by the task force and the media appearances of members of the task force or the website of National Centre for Disease Control which updates its information on this pandemic every minute,” he said.

Mr Mohammed also responded to claims that members of the Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus are collecting N500,000 daily sitting allowance, noting that the purveyors of such “fake news” are evil.

“The motives behind the upsurge are to distract the government and discredit the main actors so that they can be battling with the fake news instead of COVID-19.

“Some of the fake new are totally ridiculous but some are a mixture of fiction and science that make them sometimes believable.

“At the end of the day, they are meant to achieve the purposes of distracting government and castigate those who are carrying out the policies and programmes of government by accusing them of corruption.

“For instance, the allegation that each member of the task force are getting half a million every day as sitting allowance has led to many of us receiving accounts from many people.

“Those who believe that if you are getting such huge amount of money daily, you must share it with them, but we will not be distracted,” he said.

The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnibe Mamora, who was also a guest on the programme confirmed that he received the United Nations donation to the country on behalf of the government.

He said the first consignments he received in Lagos included 50 ventilators, 3.5 million Personal Protective Equipment comprising of gloves,face masks and allied consumables.

Fiona Braka, the leader of the WHO Immunisation Team in Nigeria, who contributed to the programme via Skype commended the federal government for efforts at combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Braka, a Public Health professional, said WHO is providing guidance and support for COVID-19 fight in the country base on the recommendation of the task force.

“We will like to commend the measures the Nigeria authority has put in place starting with identification and recommendation for management when we have the outbreak.

“The whole of government’s approach is evident in the Presidential Task Force put in place with nine ministers cutting across all sectors, social, economic, humanitarian and other dimensions.

“We applaud the setting up of the coordination body, quick recommendation for response starting from detection, testing, efforts put in place for screening at all points of entry.

“We commend what Nigeria put in place in all these and the rapid expansion with testing capacity moving from five laboratories to 12 laboratories and the possible expansion,” she said.

The WHO representative also commended the efforts of government in training and building the capacity of over 7000 health workers in fighting the epidemic.

NAN

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