The timely establishment of the UNESCO Category II Institute for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Nigeria has been reaffirmed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
This was said by Alhaji Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, on Tuesday in a bilateral discussion with Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO, on the fringes of the 42nd UNESCO General Conference in Paris, France.
The 2022 UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week, which Nigeria hosted in October 2022 in Abuja, inspired Nigeria to promise to found and host the institute. This promise was later confirmed by a resolution passed by the 216th UNESCO Executive Board in May 2023.
The Bilateral Meeting took place at the UNESCO offices, with Dr. Hajo Sani, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to UNESCO, in attendance as well.
Nigeria is preparing to leave the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) after serving on the Council for six years, but it is also running for election to the Intergovernmental Council of the Information for All Program (IFAP), according to Idris, who reaffirmed Nigeria's commitment to the organization's mission and values.
The minister reaffirmed his commitment to make sure Nigeria takes advantage of all available opportunities in the UNESCO Communications and Information Sector, particularly the growth of community radio, which is a continuous priority for UNESCO.
"I'm happy that this encounter has proven to be a really fruitful part of my trip to Paris. I have a great deal of passion for this industry
"I've always stated that I plan to return to my home in the media after serving as Minister. I shall so do everything in my power to improve it, and I pledge to work with UNESCO.
According to him, the administration of President Bola Tinubu gave top importance to reestablishing the credibility and trust of government communications in Nigeria and igniting a national dialogue about Nigerian identity and values in keeping with the national reorientation effort.
The Minister also thanked Amb. Sani for her hard work advocating Nigeria's interests at UNESCO and for being instrumental in making it possible for Nigeria to host the first-ever UNESCO MIL Institute in addition to the country's hosting of the 2022 UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Week.
In response, Dr. Jelassi, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, praised Nigeria for its active membership in the organization and promised to keep helping it seize any chance to expand its information and communication infrastructure.
He gave an overview of UNESCO's current initiatives to encourage community radio development, advance press freedom globally, and coordinate national efforts to combat hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation.
He said that UNESCO has recently released a paper titled "Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms," stressing the importance of a multistakeholder strategy to protect the right to free speech and information access.