The federal government has expressed strong disapproval of the unverified security alert recently issued on Nigeria by certain embassies in the country.
The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, condemned the act yesterday in Abuja at a ministerial panel of the ongoing UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Week.
The minister also admonished Nigerian media outlets and social media personalities against spreading security alerts without verifying its authenticity and considering the consequences.
The UK High Commission and US Embassy had issued a security alert on Sunday, warning that terrorists were targeting public spaces in Abuja, causing panic in the capital city.
Mohammed was a panelist at the UNESCO session with the topic, “National Media and Information Literacy Frameworks, Sustaining Beyond Disinformation’’ moderated by Dr Tawfik Jelassi, assistant director-general, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO.
Other discussants on the panel, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), were the minister of communication and digital economy, Isa Pantami; minister of state for education, Goodluck Opiah, and UK minister of technology and digital economy, Damian Collins participated virtually.