Diri Advises Social Media Aides to Exhibit Responsibility in their Reports

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has advised his social media aides to exhibit the highest sense of responsibility, integrity, and accountability in their job of dissemination and propagation of information about the government programmes and policies.

Diri, who decried the high incidence of fake news, half -truths, hatred and cyber bullying on the social media, urged government media aides to refrain from joining the band wagon to peddle fake news, but be guided by social media etiquettes.

The governor gave the advice at the unveiling of a new media campaign for promoting projects and programmes of the state government with the theme: ‘The New Media Paradigm: A Gateway to Prosperity’, as part of programme to commemorate the 2023 World Social Media Day held at Government House Banquet Hall in Yenagoa, the state capital.

He urged the social media aides to develop themselves in critical thinking, and always cross check facts and figures over and over to be sure that what they send out is the truth.

According to him, “As my aides, you are the aides of the governor, and that is why when you do a little slip, the opposition will pick it and say the aide of the governor did it, so I expect you to exhibit the highest sense of responsibility in your assignments because there could be a legal consequence if you fail in that basic requirements. Anything you do there is a legal consequence.

“Social media users should try to be authentic and truthful. There are too much lies, half-truths and pre-validation on social media, and I don’t want you as government practitioners to also be in that group.

“People would just post that the Bayelsa State Government has collected N700billion and it has not done one single project, can you beat that? I like the way the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, described it as just fake news. There is so much of fake news on social media and I know that you are not peddlers of fake news.”

In his speech, the Director, New Media to the Governor, Dr. Kolawole Oredipe, noted that media and governance are intertwined, and the media remains a powerful tool for mobilisation and political campaigns, as well as a vehicle to projects policies, projects and programmes of government.

He pointed out that the social media has moved beyond merely sharing information among friends to becoming a platform for serious government activities and political mobilisation because of the speed and convenience of information sharing on gadgets as mobile phones.

Oredipe said conscious of this development, the new media team deployed the social media tools to show to Bayelsans, Nigerians and the rest of the world the progress the Diri-led administration has made in the past three years.

He said: “So far, we have highlighted key policies, projects and programme of this government, and we have projected the personality of the governor and his amiable deputy as men of honour and strong character. Your infectious smiles alone speak volume about your person, and Bayelsans like your open heart.”