The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLF) has urged Nigerian youths to use their media and information literacy (MIL) skills to counter false information.

RLF Programme Manager, Angela Odah, who represented the Regional Director of the Foundation in West Africa, Dr Claus Dieter Konig, made the call during a two-day webinar organised by the African Centre for Media Information Literacy (AFRICMIL).

‘Historically, Nigerian youths have been at the forefront of the struggle for democratisation of the society, and decision making in Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning’, Odah said.

‘This can be seen in the NANs Charter of Demands produced by the then vibrant national student body in the early 1980s’.

Odah emphasised the importance of developing the capacity of youths in deploying the benefits of their MIL skills.

‘The #EndSARS protests have used the power of the social media to raise awareness, build solidarity and highlight the crimes and gross violations of human rights and dignity of Nigerians by disgruntled elements with the law enforcement agency’, she said.

For his part, AFRICMIL Coordinator, Chido Onumah, said the event sought to provide opportunities for youths to understand and deal with contemporary issues in a responsible, informed, inclusive, and effective manner.

‘This intervention is targeted at youths and students who are the catalyst of change and considered an important social category that can help drive any progressive ideas and objectives forward’, Onumah said.

‘For youths who make up a vital segment of the country’s population, the news media and the internet provide a window to the rest of the world’.

Source: THISDAY

Photo source: Erik (HASH) Hersman