President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the release of funds for the immediate operationalisation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Institute, which will be based in Abuja, Nigeria.
The approval was confirmed in a statement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who noted that President Tinubu has shown strong support for the institute’s establishment. The announcement was made during Idris’s meeting with UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, on Thursday in Paris. The meeting took place on the sidelines of President Tinubu’s State Visit to France.
Minister Idris also expressed Nigeria’s gratitude to UNESCO for the honor of hosting the first-ever Category 2 MIL Institute, a significant milestone in the global fight against misinformation and disinformation. The Institute, set to be the only one of its kind worldwide, will play a key role in promoting media and information literacy in Nigeria and beyond.
In response, Dr. Jelassi expressed his excitement about the Institute’s launch, emphasizing its importance in addressing global challenges such as misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech. He also stressed the need for promoting safer and more reliable internet practices, which aligns with UNESCO’s objectives, including the development of new guidelines for the governance of digital platforms. These guidelines aim to foster critical thinking, ensure platform transparency, and safeguard freedom of expression.
