VON & NGE: Fighting Fake News Together

The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Malam Jibrin Ndace, has sought partnership with the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) to fight against fake news, misinformation, and to project the interest of Nigeria.

Ndace spoke in Abuja on Wednesday, in his welcome remarks to some members of the Guild who were in the VON premises for a meeting.

According to him, it is the responsibility of VON to correct all negative perceptions and deliberate falsehoods about Nigeria and Africa by foreign media.

“Interestingly,  the NGE shares a similar role with VON. Like VON,  the Guild also has had to contend with other news services. It is imperative to take seriously its gate-keeping function.

“VON and the Guild must work together to ensure we carry out our mandates free from ethnocentric or religious bias, but always in the interest of the country.

“We therefore seek to partner with the Guild in this respect, particularly to ensure that we curb the menace of fake news by always being ahead whenever the news breaks.

“And also,  to respond timely to counter purveyors of fake news. We would happily serve as a source of ccontentin areas you determine relevant to your mandate,” Ndace said.

The VON boss further explained that his agency would work diligently to make sure every Nigerian feels the impact of the government by tracking the pace of service delivery across all sectors.

Speaking earlier, a member of the NGE team, Mr Adebayo Bodunrin, said the Guild members usually hold periodic meetings in the zone, and the one being held in the VON office was one of such, ahead of the forthcoming National Convention of the editors’ professional body.

“Today, NGE has what I would call a friendly constitution that satisfies the yearnings and aspirations of its members.

“Thank you for hosting us, nd we can assure you that we are not like a political party. We usually don’t have rancorous meetings. Our meetings are friendly,” Bodunirin said. (NAN).