Fake News: NOA partners to train 37,000 fact-checkers in five years

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has said it would be training 1000 Fact-Checkers in each state including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to curb the menace of fake news and misinformation.

The Director-General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari, disclosed this at the flag-off of the National Orientation Agency Fact-Checking Capacity Building for 37,000 Nigerians in the 36 states and FCT over the next five years.

He said the upsurge of fake news in Nigeria has assumed alarming and dangerous proportions, capable of heating up the polity and destroying the very fabric of national peace and unity.

He said as an agency of government statutorily saddled with the responsibility of sensitising, reorienting and enlightening the public, the vanguard role of the National Orientation Agency in curbing fake news, hate speech and cybercrimes cannot be over-emphasised.

“It is in recognition of this responsibility that we included the task of training 1,000 fact-checkers in each state of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, over a period of five years in our 5-Year Strategic Work Plan 2021 to 2026.

“Just as is the case with asymmetric warfare, where the enemy is very often within the population and the battle lines are not as clearly defined as was the case in traditional warfare, Nigeria and indeed the world finds itself today on the battlefield of misinformation, disinformation, fake news and hate speech.

“Fake News, as the name implies, is very often intended to instigate, cause hate, anger and acrimony with the main aim of causing disaffection, division, violence and even war.

“Fake news is outright falsehood; distorted or alternative facts purveyed as authentic news intended to mislead people, cause disaffection, confusion and chaos,” he said.

Dr Abari said although fake news has been with us over time, the advent of the internet especially social media has encouraged its spread like wildfire.

He said this is further exacerbated by the use of religious, ethnic and political platforms to promote these negative values.

The NOA DG further stated that susceptibility to false news comes from insufficient analytical thinking, rather than motivated reasoning.

“In other words, we’re too stuck in automatic system thinking, and not enough in analytic system thinking. Prevention, not cure, maybe a more effective way to combat misinformation.

“Prevention is a subject area that we also intend to pursue in our efforts to combat the purveyors of misinformation as we proceed in the series of capacity building sessions that we would be holding as part of our 5-year strategic work plan,” he noted.

Dr Abari appealed to Nigerians, especially the elite, to rise above every form of parochialism and promote issues of national interest, peace, unity and development.

“I urge the media, civil society, state and non-state actors and indeed all stakeholders in the Nigerian project to work collectively to defeat, fake news, hate speech and the merchants of violence and war.

“The fight against corruption and insecurity must of necessity also include the fight against fake news, and this is a collective responsibility for all of us,” he added.

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