We will take Social Media Enlightenment to Grassroots.-Echono

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education Arc. Sonny Echono says the Ministry with the support of the National Assembly will take the campaign enlightenment of the use of social media to the grassroots across the Country.

Arc. Echono was reacting to the comments of the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Basic Education and Services, Professor Julius Ihonvbere on the need for the Ministry of Education to help Educate the society on the good , the bad and the ugly side of the social media.

According to Arc. Echono, “Unfortunately on the matter of social media, it has its own advantages and disadvantages. But, we want to look at the positive sides. The social medial enables the sharing of information and knowledge on a very large scale instantaneously and to a very wide audience. at a short time. You can leverage on that to address issues of mass and adult literacy, efficient communication and collaboration briefing the people. He noted that government being held accountable, because they have to be  transparent  are the good uses social media can be put. And, we should leverage on that.

The Permanent secretary however noted a dangerous emerging trend .”A situation where people have taken to social media to peddle false and malicious information, some use it to incite people against each other and, some for whatever reason, are against this country whether they are fighting for the destruction of the country have taken it to a whole new level where all manners of manipulation have been allowed.

“You take picture from Rwanda of about 3 years ago and say oh, I am in Benin they are killing 500 people. And, you spread it. And, because it is instantaneous anybody that sees also forwards it. And, in less than 30 minutes more than 20 million people have seen it. This is dangerous. We have more than a hundred million users of phones and data. And, NCC have been telling us that. So, it is a very dangerous thing to do to knowingly forward information that you have not verified”

On what can be done to stem the tide, Echono  said, ” We need to do something about that. Enforcement is only a last resort. We should do a lot from the point of view of institutional arrangement for doing this. First we have our broadcasting commission. We need to hold people who manage our cyber space accountable. They have to act responsibly. We agree that if you have a people that are properly educated who understand between right and wrong, good and bad, who have a stake in the continuity of society in a stable manner.

While advising the youths on the use of social media, Arc. Echono said,” There have been robbers who have gone to rob because family members are just sharing information. We are spending the weekend in so and so place. So, they now know that nobody is in that house at that time because you travel home for a wedding or celebration. So, this are the things we have to be very careful about and our people also have to be conscious.

Echono said “We are one ministry that are proud to have this type of relationship with the national assembly. It is a team work. We are very consultative. We are partners. We involved the NASS at policy level. And, we bring our challenges to them and we have received tremendous support from them.

Most of the issues in the education sector falls down to issues of funding. Otherwise in terms of ideas, programs and policies, they are not in short supply. So, we  are pleased that every committee will begin to express appreciation for the little efforts we are making. And, they also try to encourage us to see how we can do more because it is doable. Nigerians have the capacity. We are intelligent  people. We have ideas and the human material and other resources. If only we can prioritize and refocus. Go back to the basis. What are our core national priorities?

And, if you do this , we can lay a solid foundation for the education of our people to give them opportunity of accessing all the other opportunities that are there in the world. Development themselves to contribute to national development., to contribute to wealth and employment. To form capital in which they can invest and provide for themselves and families and their communities. So, in terms of education, definitely, it is the bedrock of national development anywhere in the world.”