Tuggar to IBAN, Guard Nigeria’s Story, Defend Our Digital Borders, Unite the Nation.
By Raymond Enoch
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has challenged Nigeria’s independent broadcasters to see themselves as frontline defenders of the country’s narrative, unity and digital space, describing their work as a matter of national security and diplomatic strength.
Delivering the Minister’s goodwill message at the 2025 Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (IBAN), held on Thursday, 20th November 2025, a representative of the Minister and Chiefspokesman Chief
Kimiebi Imomotimi conveyed Tuggar’s regret at being unavoidably absent due to an official assignment in Johannesburg, South Africa, expressed “very warm greetings” to the association.
Commending IBAN for its conference theme, “Broadcasting for Information Sovereignty, National Cohesion and Digital Security,” Tuggar said the subject was “not only timely but absolutely critical to our nation’s future,” aligning closely with the core objectives of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
He described Information Sovereignty as the digital-age equivalent of territorial integrity, insisting that Nigeria must retain the right and capacity to tell its own stories, shape its own narratives and resist “foreign-sponsored disinformation and cultural homogenisation.” By investing in high-quality, locally produced content that reflects Nigeria’s realities and aspirations, independent broadcasters, he said, are “asserting our sovereignty in the global arena” and acting as “vanguards of our national story.”
On National Cohesion, the Minister reminded broadcasters that in a diverse country of over 230 million people, the airwaves are “a sacred trust.” He stressed that microphones and cameras can either bridge divides or deepen them, urging IBAN members to use their platforms to highlight shared values, common challenges and collective hopes. By promoting dialogue, understanding and patriotic fervour, broadcasters, he noted, help secure the internal stability that underpins a “strong and respected nation on the world stage.”
Addressing the third pillar, Digital Security, Tuggar warned that the same technologies that extend Nigerian content to global audiences also expose the national space to cyber-attacks, data breaches and coordinated influence operations. He said broadcasters’ commitment to securing their platforms and safeguarding the integrity of information they disseminate was no longer just good corporate practice but “a matter of national security,” as “a breach in your digital security is a potential breach in our national defence.”
From the vantage point of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tuggar emphasised that a Nigeria that is sovereign in information, cohesive in identity and secure in its digital environment “commands respect and wields significant influence in international affairs.” The narratives built at home, he said, are the same narratives projected abroad and directly shape the country’s diplomatic leverage.
He therefore challenged IBAN members to recognise themselves as essential partners in nation-building and in protecting Nigeria’s strategic interests in an era he described as a “complex web of misinformation and negative narratives” about the country. Tuggar called for a stronger partnership between government and the broadcasting industry to safeguard the information ecosystem, promote unity and project “a Nigeria that is confident, cohesive, and in control of its own destiny.”
Wishing participants insightful deliberations and a successful conference, the Minister’s message closed with a blessing on the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
