Nigeria to celebrate 2024 Global Media and Information Literacy Week in Abuja

Nigeria is set to join the global community in marking the 2024 Global Media and Information Literacy (GMIL) Week, with a series of events aimed at promoting digital literacy and responsible information dissemination across the country.

The Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, will officially open a symposium on Friday, October 25, 2024, at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Conference Centre in Abuja.

The event is jointly organized by the International Media and Information Literacy Institute (IMILI), the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, and UNESCO’s Abuja office.

The symposium, themed “Empowering Nigerians through Digital Literacy: Navigating the New Media Frontiers for Inclusive Public Information,” is one of the highlights of the week-long activities celebrating GMIL Week. It will bring together key stakeholders to discuss strategies for equipping Nigerians with the skills needed to navigate the evolving digital media landscape.

Global Media and Information Literacy Week, recognized by the United Nations from October 24 to 31 each year, aims to raise awareness of the importance of a media-literate society. Since its proclamation in 2011, GMIL Week has served as a platform for tracking progress in media and information literacy initiatives worldwide.

In addition to the symposium, other events planned for the celebration include workshops for undergraduate Mass Communication students and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Abuja.

Training sessions, lectures, and road walks will also be held across Nigeria by partners and stakeholders. These activities are designed to highlight digital literacy as a fundamental skill for all Nigerians, emphasizing the need for responsible consumption and dissemination of information in the digital age.

The workshops will further explore the impact of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence and the rise of digital content creators, focusing on both the opportunities and risks these developments pose to public-interest information.

All sectors, including government agencies, educational institutions, media organizations, and civil society groups, are encouraged to participate in the events. The goal is to foster a digital environment that promotes public-interest information and meets the needs of citizens across the country.

This year’s global celebrations will culminate in the Feature Conference hosted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from October 30 to 31, 2024.

Mohammed Idris will represent Nigeria as a speaker at the High-Level Ministerial Panel Session on the theme “The New Digital Frontiers of Information: Media Information Literacy for Public Interest Information” on October 30.

Notably, Nigeria previously hosted the 11th edition of GMIL Week in 2022, an event praised by UNESCO as one of the best-organized in the history of the global initiative.