The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) has called on religious leaders in Benue state to engage the tools of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) to avert ethno-religious crises in society.
Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL, on Monday, made the call at a townhall meeting and the launch of MIL Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue manual for religious leaders on promoting peace in the age of social media.
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“The adherents of Christianity and Islam are endlessly battling for supremacy in all aspects of national life
“The potential for intense religious crises is even more obvious in this age of internet technology where websites, blogs and social media platforms are routinely deployed to disseminate all kinds of fake news and hate messages targeting other religions and cultures.”
The town hall meeting was part of the organisation’s peace project activities being supported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI).
In his presentation, Reverend Father Emmanuel Ejeh, Coordinator, Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), said it is no longer news that social media is being harnessed as a breeding ground for extremists, to recruit religious, ethnic bigots and terrorists, and cause so much division.
“The disadvantages of social media is that it is a breeding ground for extremist views and hate speech. The volume, variety and velocity of information available through social media has introduced new challenges for initiating and sustaining peace talks. Conflict parties sometimes use social media to leak information, spread disinformation or promote divisiveness, hate, violence, and religious bigotry/extremism.”
On her part, Hajiya Hauwa Isa, Chairperson of the women wing of Jamaatul Nasril Islam, Benue State, said women especially, need to be reoriented on the importance of imbibing in their children the culture of love and tolerance.
She explained that it is believed that women are used to picking news which sometimes are not verified, ruminating on the news while unconsciously instructing her kids in line with the information.
Addressing participants, the DG, National Orientation Agency, Garba Abari, who was represented by Mr Richard Audu, Director of NOA, Benue State, said religious crises in Nigeria was usually fuelled by politicians who are desperate to win election by all means to the detriment of the fragile peace in the society. He said it’s unfortunate that their actions are often not noticed at the height of the unrest.
He said one of the ways to address the continuous ethno-religious crises was to teach the values of dignity of labour and tolerance from the elementary school.
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