Shettima hails Nigerian media’s response to ‘Foreign Information Manipulation’
Vice President Kashim Shettima has hailed the Nigerian media for the sincerity with which they handle what he described as the rising tide of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.
Shettima spoke at the 2025 Conference and Annual General Meeting of the International Press Institute, IPI, Nigeria, themed, ‘Addressing Media Repression and Safeguarding Democratic Accountability in Nigeria’, held in Abuja on Tuesday.
The VP said Nigeria has one of the most vibrant media communities anywhere in the world.
In an address at the event, Shettima said, “One thing you (Nigerian media) have never failed to do is rise in defence of the public’s right to know.
“You have confronted those who sought to suffocate this oxygen of our democracy, and in moments of national confusion, you stepped forward to correct misinformation. This is a responsibility we cannot afford to take for granted, however complex our relationship may sometimes be.
One of the proudest moments for journalism in contemporary Nigeria has been the sincerity with which the overwhelming majority of you continue to confront the rising tide of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.
“You have stood firmly against disinformation and refused to surrender your pens to falsehoods or foreign puppeteers. This honourable stance sets you apart from the minority who chase notoriety by manipulating unverified data and manufacturing obvious lies—those who prefer viral fiction to verified facts.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, if our collective experience has taught us anything, it is this: not a single practitioner lasts in this vocation without a sense of ethical responsibility. The pen is only mightier than the sword when it is deployed in the pursuit of justice and objectivity.
Without ethics, journalism becomes nothing more than a dictatorship of text and airwaves, a distortion chamber where truth is suffocated by dangerous agendas.
“Perhaps the most sacred duty of the media is the responsibility of saving democracy. This duty involves not only saving democracy from the political class, but also saving the political class from themselves.
“It includes shielding institutions from the excesses of human impulses. Democracy is safe only when power is under constant observation. And it is safe only when those who observe do so with integrity rather than vendetta. That is where your heroism begins
