The federal government said it has completed plans to train 37,000 Nigerians on information fact-checking as a way to curb the spread of fake news in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.

One thousand Nigerians will be randomly selected from each of the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the training, which will be coordinated by the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

Assistant Director, Media and Communication, NOA, Paul Odenyi, made this known at a one-day capacity-building workshop on ‘promoting social cohesion through Media and Information Literacy (MIL), inter-religious and intercultural dialogue’ organized by African Centre for Media and Literacy (AFRICMIL) in Abuja.

AFRICMIL is a non-governmental organization whose vision is to promote media and information literacy as a key component in the enhancement of democracy, good governance and the promotion of accountability and orderly society.

Odenyi said fake news is already killing our country and doing a lot of damage, adding that if nothing is done to curb how such information flies about, the social cohesion gap will keep getting wider.

According to him “one thousand Nigerians will be randomly selected from each state and will cut across gender, occupation and religion.

“The training is technologically driven and can easily be used to fact-check any type of information. If someone puts a picture or voice on social media, you can easily check whether it is manipulated or not.”

In his welcome address, AFICMIL coordinator, Dr Chido Onumah said this training is an important one because it seeks to promote peace, which is one of the most precious gifts that makes a society thrive.

He said, however, factors like inadequate information and the lack of proper communication about our cultures, religions, diversity and our individual rights have become a major challenge in the quest for progress as a nation.

Onumah further said political and religious actors, including mischief makers who thrive on conflict, have continued to exploit the lack of MIL knowledge among a great majority of citizens to deepen the fault lines by propagating messages of hate, extremism, misinformation and fake news.

He said “more than ever before, we need to quickly rouse from our slumber, to address the situation before it gets out of hand. AFRICMIL recognizes that there is an urgent need for our people to be well informed, to communicate better and take serious issues that will bring about peaceful co-existence.

“We are certain that educating the youths properly by exposing them to MIL, which is mostly about the use of media and the dynamics of information seeking, sharing and acceptance, will lead to increased awareness of the need to respect the rights of all humans as contained in the universal declaration of human right acts and the Nigerian constitution”.

Also speaking, the director, of Research and Institutional Strengthening, African Polling Institute (API), Dr Olugbenga Ogunmefen said the Nigeria Social Cohesion Index (NSCI) has declined from 44.2% in 2021 to 39.6 % in 2022.

He said the index score which was derived from the computation of 13 key indicators, sub-indices of identity, trust, social justice, participation and patriotism, worth, future, and gender equity represents a 4.6% decline from the 2021 index of 44.2% falls short of the 50% average and signifies a weakening of the state of social cohesion.

“It is worth noting that the 2022 index reflects the perception of citizens on the nation, given the increasing level of insecurity, agitations against the state, increasing calls for restructuring and a general sense of disaffection amongst the majority of citizens” Ogunmefen noted.