The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday appealed to the media to project the image of the country positively and desist from spreading false information about the security situation.

Mohammed said this while making reference to the report recently released by the United States, stating that 20 out of the 36 states of the federation are not safe to visit.

The Minister said this while receiving members of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria, who paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja.

He said, ”If they want to tell their people not to come to Nigeria, we do not need to help them to spread the news.

”You do not need to spread news about Nigeria that will hurt investment and tourism.”

Mohammed enjoined members of the Association to complement the efforts of the government in promoting the good image of the country.

“I will mention an area which is dire to tourism and development. That is the area of marketing tourism. We do not market tourism enough in this country. Tourism is driven by perception more than by reality. What do I mean? Today, countries that are less endowed and peaceful than Nigeria…go on CNN and Aljazeera to advertise their countries as the countries of peace and stability. We must change the perception and invest in perception management,” he said.

Azeez