By God'spower Ede
Official government secrets refer to sensitive and confidential information that is not publicly available and is protected by the government for various reasons.
Some of the reasons includes
National Security, Diplomatic Relations, Economic Interests, Security and public Public Safety.
Information that require such protection are Classified documents, Intelligence reports, Confidential memos and sensitive government policy briefs among others.
Sadly, the recent spread of fake news regarding the appointment of a new Secretary to the State Government in Nasarawa State highlights the dangers of misinformation.
The viral piece of information took over the entire social media space, circulating like wild fire generating tension in the public space.
Unfortunately, this trend of fake news dissemination has become prevalent in Nasarawa State, often perpetuated by youths working closely with government officials and top politicians with no basic knowledge of journalism ethics and practice.
The information largely lacked the basic ingredients of a verified news content, without accurate source, not backed by facts, highly sensational and misleading.
As a matter of fact, this dangerous trend of fake news dissemination has become the norms across all social media platforms in Nasarawa State in recent years, thus agreeing with the views of some analysts who paradoxically regarded Nasarawa State as the home of "solid fake news"
The purveyors of these fake news are usually in competition to be first to break developing trends, ignoring the place of Fact-Checking, ethical considerations and truthfulness which are the hallmarks of the media profession.
To combat this issue, it is essential for top government officials to refrain from sharing sensitive information with unverified sources.
Accordingly, Government should begin strict enforcement of official secret act, ensuring that violators are sanctioned appropriately to prevent further occurrence.
Equally, Government should endeavour to hasten early release of sensitive information such as appointment of sensitive Government officials among other valuable news of interest to the people to avoid fueling speculations and rumour.
While we continue to leverage on the enormous opportunities provided by the social media to freely express ourselves, it is important to note that such freedom must comes with some caution.
This implies that not all vital information requires public attention, especially when it concerns official and family matters.
Like in the words of former American President, Thomas Jefferson "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" hence we must exercise our freedom to the use of social media with great restrain and caution.
God'spower Ede is a senior news editor with Nasarawa Broadcasting Service NBS.
