UNESCO to train Bloggers, Content-creators, Journalists on Media and Information Literacy

 

Media and information literacy are not only critical for information dissemination, informed society but also for peaceful co-existence in order to build democratic ethos and also enjoying the dividends of democracy.

A recent survey on Google by Lynn and Becker put Nigeria at 67.76 percent ahead of Cameroon, Somalia, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Belize, Mauritius, Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nepal, Guatemala, Cape Verde, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nicaragua and Nepal. Nepal was at the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of intelligence quotient (I.Q).

Leveraging on the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q) of Nigerians as it relates to using the social media for information literacy, UNESCO has said it would soon train bloggers, social media influences, content-creators in order to help them to do their jobs on the Internet for a more informed society. 

This idea was mooted at the Global Media Literacy and Information Conference organised by UNESCO in Amman, Jordan under the parsonage of His Excellency, King Abdullahi II Ibn Hussein, the king of Jordan who played host to the Global Media and Information Literacy conference in the region.

On why this group should be trained to inform their online audience and the general public, Prof. Deena Abi Thiab, Head of Jordan Programme Office, UN-Habitat says, “There is still much to learn from content-creators, bloggers, social media influences in the area of media and information literacy as we can’t afford to throw away the baby with the bath-water. They should be seen as critical catalyst toward achieving the goal of information dissemination on the media space.”

“What i think we should rather do is to equip and train them so that they can be well-equipped to do their job and also to better inform their audience.”

This view is not different from what Dir. Sunday Baba, the representative of the Honouranle Minister of Information and National Orientation (NOA) at the UNESCO conference, “we need to equip content-creators, and those who are posting stuffs on the social-minded with skills so that they are better-equipped to do their job and make them custodian of the right information for a well-informed society.”

He opened that by giving them the needed skills, hate-speech, dis/misinformation, fake news would reduce drastically and the narrative would change to enhance our democratic values.

Speaking further, he said, since most Nigerian youths are adept in social media skills and are always online posting one thing or the other, the onus lies on us to train them to become better in their roles of informing the public.”

On what really gave rise to the proliferation of dis/misinformation on the social media by content-creators and others, Dir. Farouk Osmar, Secretary-General, National Union of Journalists, Somalia, spilled the beans by saying “Content-creators are dominating the media by the day while traditional media are lagging behind in their role of information dissemination and awareness.”

This he noted has given rise to some overnight journalists and emergency reporters who misinform and mislead the public through their posts. He also said that since the journalist who should be at the forefront of informing, educating the public are slacking in their responsibility, they are in turn giving a leeway for those who are not in the mainstream media to take over.

Still on this, Mrs. Nesrine Slapui, a journalist, writer and filmmaker in Morocco and France explains that the role of Journalists or the media is to “inform the people on how to inform themselves and to ensure the transparency of information. She opened that “it is about checking news to inform the people’ and not the other way round as the content-creators, bloggers, social media influencers are doing.

On what the ethics of online reportage should be, she said, “fact-checking, critical-thinking, informed decision that won’t be counter-productive on their audience should be the ideal of news and information sharing.

Unlike the traditional media, content creators, social media influencers, bloggers are too much in a hurry to post their content without checking and verifying the source.

But during the MILWeek (Media and Information Literacy Week 2024) in Amman, Jordan, UNESCO announced that all these anomalies would soon be a thing of the past as efforts have bene put in place for effective media education and literacy so that people are not dis/misinformed and the veracity of what is posted online is properly checked before posting them.

In this regard, UNESCO has made available an online course, “The Authoritative Voice” and “Each one for another.”  The courses have been designed in partnership with the Knight Centre for Journalism, USA.

On the overall aim of this program, UNESCO said it is to “equip digital content creators with essential media and information literacy skills by identifying their strengths, weaknesses and needs. The course will also empower digital content creators and strengthen and help them in information sharing.”

On why these courses have been designed, UNESCO said “we have seen the need to design this course y to train content creators - bloggers, social media influencers and journalists because digital content creators significantly inference public opinions, trends and consumer behaviours.”

“Despite this, there is a lack of comprehensive research into their motivations, ethics and accountability. As the UN agency with the mandate of promoting freedom. of expression, access to information and mass media, information literacy, UNESCO aims to understand the dynamics of digital contents.”

According to UNESCO, “this initiative will lead to development of a comprehensive survey. By leading tips effort, UNESCO seeks to enhance content-creators and informed digital citizens.”

Apart from these courses, there are many other courses like: “Media Literacy: Fostering a Cognitive Emotional Approach,” “The Need for Media Literacy: A Comprehensive Learning Experiences” among others. All thse courses are available on the UNESCO website as an e-learning courses.”

“My experience as one-day Governor, eye-opening, gratifying, unforgettable” – Abdulrahmon, twentieth One-day Governor

 

Abdulazeez Abdulrahmon, the winner of the twentieth edition of the Spelling Bee Competition from Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu who eventually became the One-day Governor, a continuum of the legacy of the former first lady of the state, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu has expressed profound gratitude for the honour given unto him by the state Governor, the executive and the legislature as the One-day Governor saying that “it is an eye-opening experience that would linger in his memory for a long time.”

The One-day Governor, Abdulazeez, who was received by the governor of the state, Sanwo-Olu and his wife, Dr. Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu during a courtesy visit the State House in Marina as part of his executive function as the one-day Governor, said it was indeed an honour taking up the mantle of leadership for just one-day and a rare opportunity performing the executive function.

He was accompanied by the One-day Deputy-Governor, Master Oki Sewanu, Coordinator of Answar Ud-Deen Senior Grammar School, Badagry and the One-day Secretary to the State Government, Miss Saheed Alimot-Odere of Jubilee Model Senior School, Coker, Aguda.

During the visit, Sanwo-Olu congratulated the students for their remarkable achievements noting that the Spelling Bee Competition has continually fostered confidence and vocabulary developments among participants.

At a subsequent reception at the Exco Chamber, Lagos House, Ikeja, Dr. Olufemi Hamzat, Deputy-Governor of the state who received the One-day Governor and his team members on behalf of the Governor urged the students to emulate past winners who have excelled in various fields of their endeavours.

He described both the present One-day Governor and the past winners of the Spelling Bee Competition as ‘shinning examples of the state’s commitment to nurturing future leaders.’

He advised the young leaders to stay omitted to positive change and be proud ambassadors of Lagos State. In his words, “you should be proud of being products if Lagos State and be determined to change any negative narratives about our country.”

In response to the request made by the One-day Governor for an ICT laboratory at his school, Oriwu Senior Model College, Sanwo-Olu assured him that the project would be carried out in no time as he has directed the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Alli-Balogun to begin to work on his request.

The First Lady, Dr. Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu alongside the wie of the Deputy-Governor, Mrs. Oluremi Hamzat, encouraged the students to continue to pursue academic excellence assuring them that the government will maintain its commitment to creating a conducive learning environment across the state.

Dr. Sanwo-Olu also introduced the students to various initiatives lead b her office like the War Against Drug Abuse, Fight Against Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Lagos Boy Child Initiative and the School Support Initiative.

Mr. Olabode Agoro, the Lagos State Head of Service also commended the government’s investment in education as a means of securing the future of Lagos State.

He assured the students of opportunities within the public service saying that, “there is a reserved place for you within the Lagos State Public Service upon completion of your education.”

On his own part, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education said that the official tour undertaken by the One-day Governor and his cabinet was aimed at providing valuable information that would be beneficial to their future careers.

The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics at the Quality Assurance (QEQA), Mr. Remi Abdul, lauded the sustained efforts to keep the One-day Governor initiative alive. He noted that the competition which saw Abdulrahmon emerge as the winner was keenly-contested across zonal and state levels thus serving as a morale booster for students.

Two Youths developed Apps to combat Fake news

“Misinformation is sixty percent to seventy percent than the real news.” This was the assertion made by His Excellency, Dr. Mohammad Al-Momani, the Minister of Government Communications and Government Spokesperson in Jordan at the ongoing UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2024 in Amman Jordan.

Dr. Mohammad Al-Momani who spoke extensively about the venomous effect of fake news to the teeming participants drawn from the United Staes of America, Armenia, Jordan, Ukraine, France, Sudan, Senegal UAE, Nigeria, Somalia and host of their countries which includes students, lecturers, academics, diplomats, thought-leaders, journalists, government representatives urged the participants to wage war against fake news.

In the bid to end fake news, two students Daniah Reaah and Mohseni Mohamati from Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have developed an application (App) called “Mahw” to tackle fake news.

While presenting their innovation to UNESCO participants during the Youths Hackathon, the duo said, “Mahw is a comprehensive solution for verifying fake news and quash dis/misinformation of any type on the digital space.”

Responding to questions during an interview with School Connect Magazine on what informed “Mahw” and how it works, Daniah Reaah who is a recent graduate of Computer Engineering said, “misleading information about my country, Iraq has made us to develop this App to combat fake news. Whenever I get news from anybody from another country about Iraq, I usually hear something like Iraq is in ruins or in shambles. I always feel pained on how the situation in my country is being exaggerated beyond proportion. Agreed, there is a war going on, but the situation is not as bad as it is being painted by those who are peddling it.”

“With this misleading information that I usually get, the idea to tackle fake news was birthed and that was how Mohseni and I came about, “Mahw”.

Oh how the App, “Mahw” works, Daniah said, it works with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and you just need to key in the location where you think the fake news is being spread and you will be able to get verification about that particular news.

Explaining further, she said “although Mahw doesn’t really work with algorithm or coding, but with artificial intelligence, yet the effect is really amazing in combating fake news. She said they just want to make it easy to use even if you are not tech-savy in computing or programming.

She also mentioned that “Mahw has been tested and the result is really effective in tackling fake and misinformation in her country, Iraq. Although Mahw has just newly been launched, she said that efforts are underway to make it accessible to everyone not only in Iraq, but also in the whole of the Arab regions.

The whizkids, Daniah and Mohsen were given a certificate of recognition for their ingenuity at the UNESCO MIL Week especially because it aligns with the theme of the conference.

‘Nigeria will include Media and Literacy Information into curriculum soon’ – Dr. Sunday Baba, NOA Rep

 

Dr. Sunday Baba, the representative of the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation Agency (NOA), Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Baba has said the Nigeria will soon introduce the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) into her curriculum any moment from now as efforts are in top gear.

Dr. Sunday said this during the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week (MILWeek) in Amman, Jordan while responding to question directed to him about what Nigeria is doing about including the Media and Information Literacy into the school’s curriculum during a High Ministerial Panel at the conference.

He said, “We may not really have a formal policy on MIL as we speak, but a lot has been happening in Nigeria at the moment specially building initiatives towards achieving the MIL.”

Speaking further on the concerted efforts put together by his country towards including the MIL into the curriculum, Dr. Sunday said, “You will recall that in 2022, we held a Global Media Week in Nigeria and a lot of things came out of this after this programme.”

“We have been able to build a lot of initiatives using schools and the universities most especially. For instance, we had a symposium where we invited eight universities and they brought their students and we started teaching them on what is called, “Media and Information Literacy” and how this would be propagated all over Nigeria.

Speaking further on the MIL initiative, which advocacy started about two years ago, he said, “we are not doing this through teaching alone. We are using the community radio where everyone is given a voice to speak.”

On how to achieve this. He said, “we will invite market women, farmers, religious leaders, different communities to share ideas and speak out in order to build our democratic ethos so that it can stand very well.”

On how to solidify this and garner support for this programme, Dr. Sunday said, “We have initiated the MILAND that is the Media Literacy Supportive Institute. We have collaborated with media organizations to support this initiative.

In recent times, we have started building media vanguards in schools all over Nigeria where the ethics and ideals of media and information literacy are taught.

At this conference, the Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)and er team are here with us. The National Open University of Nigeria would be saddled with the responsibility of fighting fake news and hate speech among peddlers especially young people who are always on the social media to post unverified news. 

Our team, the NOUN will be doing fact-checking on what is posted online so that Nigeria are not misinformed. This is to ensure that what is not true shouldn’t be posted. Another thing we want to do is to equip content-creators and those who are posting on social media with skills so that they ar well-equipped to do their job and are custodians of the right information and how to build a transparent democracy using the social media.

We are doing this because Nigerians use every opportunity to gather people like students, workers, lecturers, the educated and the illiterates together. So, we want to see how we can use he power of media education and orientation in this regard.

In terms of the MIL, we have done a lot of work and have put in a lot of efforts to make this work for our country Nigeria and it would be achieved very soon.

 

How to get full Funding to Study in USA - US Embassy

 

The United States Embassy through the US Education has advised students on how to make their dreams of studying in the United States of America (USA) realizable. The programme was organized for students of the Deeper Life High School Lagos Campus by the United States Education department in Lagos.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Emmanuel Eze, the School Administrator of the Deeper Life High School Lagos Campus said “Deeper Life High School has produced outstanding students who have studied abroad and studying in different universities in Nigeria.”

Speaking further, Emmanuel Eze said, “in the last UTME, Umeh Precious performed excellently well in the year 2023 exam. This year, our students will score 390 and we are giving it back to back to ensure that our students top the grade.”

On his part, Mr. Ajala, the Principal of the Senior School (DLHS) commended the parents for believing in the school to give their children/wards unmitigated quality education with excellent academic performance.

While delivering a presentation on, “Five Steps to Studying Abroad in the US”, Mrs. Chinenye Uwadileke the head of the US Education team said, “considering an option to study in the United States of America I one of the best decisions that any student can ever made because I also took that decision over twenty years ago and I got a full scholarship to study in US.”

Speaking to the students’ participants and their parents on how to get scholarship to study in US, Chinyere said early application and meeting up with the scholarship criteria are some information that the applicants need to make start their studying abroad journey into the US.

She also revealed that the Education USA has funding opportunity for exceptionally brilliant students who wants to study in the States, but lack the financial capability to do so or are from indigent background. She said the Education USA Opportunity Fund Programme provides full funding and scholarship for anyone who wants to study in US especially for students who come from humble background.

According to her, students who fall into this category will get full funding from the United States government. The US government would be responsible for their visa application fee, flight ticket, feeding and other expenses. And upon graduation, that person will be able to apply to become citizen of the United States of America.

In order not to leave the students in doubt about the grey areas during her presentation especially about how to get full scholarship, funding and applying for visa, she provides further information on how to apply for visa through the US Embassy’s website.

During the Question & Answer session, a concerned parent asked what happens after a student who have completed his/her studies in the US with full funding. In response to this question, one of the team of the US Education responded by saying, “when a student gets a full funding to study in the US, he or she pays nothing back to the USA government after his or programme.”

The programme participants comprise students of the Deeper Life High School in the senior secondary category, their parents, invited guests and the US Education team. The Career programme is a regular feature of the school to expose their students to different career opportunities and help them to make the right decision in choosing the right career in their academic goals and pursuit. The Career programme usually presents them with what to study, where to study (Nigerian universities and foreign universities), how to study and when to study. During this robust career exposure, seasoned career experts and academics are usually invited from the academia, WAEC, JAMB and education agents representing different foreign universities abroad. The programme also provides counselling, question & answer and exhibition.

After the programme, the School Admin, Mr. Emmanuel Eze thanked the students, their parents, the US Education team who participated in the programme.

Summit deliberates on Shaping the Future of Education

“Any investment made into education is an investment into the future.” This was the view of Dr. Ambigali, pro-chancellor, Federal University of Technology Akure. (FUTA) during a two-day summit on “Shaping the Future of Global Education organized by the M-Square Media at the Marriott Hotel, Lagos recently.

The one-day summit brought together stakeholders in the education sector from the University of Port Harcourt, the Federal University of Technology Akure, American University, Abuja, Lagos, Kwara and some other parts of the country. 

During a panelist session at the summit, while discussing on how to solve problems in the tertiary education, Dr. Ambigail, the pro-chancellors of FUTA said, the universities of technology should see how they can synergize and collaborate in order to solve problems in the higher institution.

He was of the view that universities should have solution to their own problems and proffer solutions instead of setting up many private universities or establishing more technological universities, the existing ones could synergize and address some of the peculiar needs and problems they have and forge ahead.

On the area of getting partnership to meet some of the needs in the universities like funding, he said, the first thing is to identify the vision, mission and goals of such partnership. Adding that partnership would really work better when the partnership involved are there physically.

On his own part, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of PortHarcout, Prof. Georgewill said that UNIPORT is setting the pace for entrepreneurship in Nigeria as no student graduates from the university without being certified in entrepreneurship. He said that entrepreneurship is a compulsory course every student of the university must take before graduating. Elaborating further, the Prof said that entrepreneurship is different from skill acquisition. Saying that many young people are acquiring skills, but they are not entrepreneurs.

During his paper presentation, the Second Secretary on Trade at the Canadian High Commission Dindembolo-Zaya Kayena, Lagos said he agreed that the number of visa refusal had been high of late and he attributed this to a number of factors like: Ingenuine intention of migration, poor statement of purpose, insufficient funds and some other reasons.

During his speech he noted that many Nigerians under to guise of wanting to study just want to “Japa” and in this regard the Canadian High Commission is tightening its noose to “Japada” (repatriate) some of them who do not meet the migration demands regarding study visa. Dindembolo also said as an African envoy, Canada has been having bilateral relationship with Nigeria and they still want to maintain that relationship.

Talking on the area of quality education, teachers’ quality and the skills demand for the twenty-first century, Dr. Soyombo, the Special Adviser on Education, Kwara State said that to meet the global competitiveness in today’s world, critical thinking, innovation and enquiry-based methodology and accuracy are critical catalyst.

The Eduverse summit is a platform where regional and global challenges in the higher education sector are brought to the front-burner where stakeholders discuss this issue and proffer solutions.   

Drug abuse, Youth’s sanity and the Future of Nigerian Youths

 Editor/s Note

Drug abuse, Youth’s sanity and the Future of Nigerian Youths

“They get drunk and high on a regular basis, but this is a vestige of youths that you either quit while you are young, or you become an addict if you don’t die. If you are the Old Guy in the Punk House, move out. You have a substance about problem”-Bucky Sinister

The issue of drug/substance abuse among Nigerian Youths are becoming alarming. It is not uncommon to find teens from the age of twelve years or even younger taking Indian hemp, marijuana, cannabis and some other illicit drugs which are hazardous to their health and would truncate the future.

My reason for worry or concern is that drug abuse is no longer taken in the hidings anymore, but even in the open.

Despite the traumatic effects that this is having on young people, it appears that the government is not really doing anything about this while many of our youths are becoming insane, dying untimely, causing/unleashing havoc in the society and public places, and constituting nuisance to their parents and a menace to the society.

I expect that there should be serious policy on this, and the senate should come up with bills that would nip this harmful behaviour among youths in the bud. It is very alarming that about 40%millon Nigerians are in drugs according to a report by the NDLEA in August 2021 as published by Premium Times.

Additionally, a report said that there are over 11 million cannabis users in Nigeria. The number of these young people incarcerated or in remand homes as a result of drug abuse is quite alarming.

Globally, it was estimated that “275 million people abuse drugs worldwide.” This was according to the report released last year by the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNDOC).

Nigerian youths are victims to illicit, harmful and dangerous drugs like cannabis, tobacco, glue, heroic energy drinks, miraa, tramadol, colorado, tranquillizers, ant, amphetamine, diazepam, codeine, shisha, cocaine, methamphetamine and host of others which are gory to mention.

When young people abuse drugs (boys and girls), they do that willing-nilly without considering the side effects (some of them don’t even know that). Drug abuse is often fuelled by peer influence, imitating role models; lifestyles from what they watch in movies and what they see outside.

For every addition, there is a resultant-effect. Some of the short-term effects of drugs abuse could be: happiness and confidence, talking more, feeling energetic and alert, feeling physically strong and mentally sharp, reduced appetite, dry mouth, faster heartbeat, increased sex drive, unpredictable behaviour, violent or aggressive behaviour, delusions (over-inflated sense of worth, power, knowledge or identity), anxiety, paranoia (feeling extremely suspicious of others), psychosis (seeing or hearing things that do not exist or distorted).

The long-term effect of drugs are sadness, irregular periods (difficulty having children among females), no sex drive (in males), constipation, damaged heart, lungs, liver and brain, vein damage and skin, heart and lungs infections from injecting (i.e. HIV and Hepatitis C), needing to use more to get same effect (develop tolerance), dependency among others.

My main concern in this article is the future of the Nigeria youths. ‘Youths’ have been described as the future of any nation. But what happens if the plethora or mass armies that would have been the engine room for development, economic revival, scientific advancement, medical research, and national orientation are drug addicts and as a result are mentally unbalanced to stir the wheel of the nation? This is where my worry is as many youths are having field day because they are enjoying their hobbies of drugs. I surmise that the future of this country is really at stake. It is even disheartening to note that many of them are dropping out from school to concentrate on their new engagement drug abuse. These youths are recalcitrant to corrections as their parents can’t even tame them. They don’t care about their future, but only how to take drugs. Education isn’t their priority. I have also found out that ‘yahoo-yahoo’ and singing go along with drugs.

We are losing many of our youths to illicit drugs and substance abuse. Sometime last year, the New African Shrine around Agidingbi wrote it boldly on their walls that “Drugs abuse is the dangerous”. This is to deter young people on the effects of drugs as many of them have been vagabonds, vagrants, miscreants and never-do-well.

There is the need to declare a state of emergency of drug abuse even as this ugly trend becomes a norm and part of our national lives. The radio station, TV, newspaper, magazine, NDLEA, National Orientations, Ministry of Youths Development, UN, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNODC, NGOs working and other with youths on drug abuse and other government parastatals should take the gauntlet by designing programmes that would salvage the youths from jeopardy in the future.

As I conclude this piece, Danny Trejo, author of My Life of Crime, Redemption and Hollywood have this ten pence to lend to addicts. “Drinking and drugs might temporarily bring some relief, but there is a problem in life that drugs and alcohol make worse-whether the issue is financial, emotional or legal. If you are reading this and find yourself struggling, ask God to take the burden of your shoulders, reach out for help, and stop digging a deeper hole for yourself. There is a community of millions of men and women who have similar circumstances and will be there for you, stranger or not, because their own recovery depends on helping people like you.”

 Olugbenga Adebiyi

Editor, School Connect Magazine