Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has called for deeper collaboration between government and broadcasters to defend the country’s information ecosystem and counter rising waves of misinformation and damaging narratives.
The Minister who stated this at the 2025 Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN) on ThursdayinAbuja, urged participants to see themselves as “essential partners in nation-building,”
He commended IBAN for selecting a theme he described as both urgent and central to Nigeria’s future: “Broadcasting for Information Sovereignty, National Cohesion and Digital Security.”
Represented by the Spokesperson of the Ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, Ambassador Tuggar, said the theme was a direct reflection of the priorities embedded in Nigeria’s foreign policy.
He said, “The ability of a nation to control its narrative, protect its digital integrity, and unite its citizens is no longer a soft power preference—it is a strategic imperative.”
He commended the nation’s independent broadcasters for their critical role in safeguarding the country’s narrative, unity, and digital security.
The Minister stressed that Information Sovereignty now mirrors territorial sovereignty in strategic importance. He said it rests on Nigeria’s capacity to tell its own stories and resist “foreign-sponsored disinformation and cultural homogenisation.”
According to him, “Broadcasters who invest in compelling local content, play a central role in asserting this sovereignty.
He highlighted the sector’s responsibility in strengthening national cohesion. With Nigeria’s population surpassing 230 million, the Minister described the public airwaves as a “sacred trust,” urging broadcasters to use their platforms to promote shared values and deepen unity. The media, he said, holds the power to either close national divides or widen them.
On digital security, the Minister warned that the same technologies enabling global reach also expose the country to cyber threats, influence operations, and data breaches. Safeguarding broadcast platforms, he stated, is not merely a technical obligation but “a matter of national security.” Any failure in digital protection, he said, leaves the entire nation vulnerable.
Tuggar emphasised that Nigeria’s global influence depends heavily on its domestic information environment.
“The narrative you build at home is the narrative we project abroad, and we cannot afford to fail in that regard,” he asserted.
