WELCOME REMARKS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, ALHAJI LAI MOHAMMED, AT THE WELCOME SESSION OF THE GLOBAL MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY WEEK, ABUJA, NIGERIA, ON MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2022
Protocol
I am very delighted to welcome you all to Abuja, our beautiful capital city and centre of unity. This morning, we are gathered here at the Transcorp Hilton to commence the 11th edition of the Global Media and Information Literacy week, feature Conference and Youth Forum.
- Please allow me to welcome, in particular, my dear friend, Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, the Assistant Director General of UNESCO on Communication and Information and his entire team from UNESCO. In the same vein, I welcome all our guests, very distinguished speakers and participants from other parts of the world, some of whom are coming here for the very first time.
- I have no doubt that you will have a very good time in Abuja, our welcoming capital city, and that the various interactions here will form the basis for a lasting friendship, long after this event would have ended.
The theme of this year’s Global MIL week, which is “Nurturing Trust: A Media and Information Literacy Imperative”, is not only apt but also timely as our world and its leaders contend with the challenge of identifying what is true and what is false, in view of the use of media and information.
As I ponder on the state of our world, the enormous challenge it faces, especially with unregulated use of social media and other digital platforms, I see the urgent need for every person to be equipped with the ability to critically evaluate and wisely use information at their disposal.
I am optimistic that, starting from the parallel sessions which commence immediately to the last plenary session on Friday morning, contributions and questions will all be geared toward finding the linkages to building trust among our societies and individuals through the use of media and Information literacy.
As I urge you all to give this your best attention, knowing that the world awaits the outcome of this Global MIL week, I warmly welcome you, once again, to Nigeria. I encourage you all to discover Abuja and to enjoy your stay.- And I thank you for your kind attention
