THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) said it has trained 37,000 Nigerians to fact check information as part of measures to curb fake news and misinformation during the 2023 general elections.
This was disclosed by the Agency’s Assistant Director of Media and Publicity, Paul Odenyi, on Wednesday at a workshop to commemorate the 2022 UNESCO Global media and information literacy week in Abuja with the theme: ‘Capacity Building Workshop On Media And Information Literacy, Interreligious And Intercultural Dialogue’.
Odenyi, speaking as one of the resource persons representing NOA, said the agency has equipped itself with necessary tools to train citizens to checkmate news and information before consuming it.
According to him, the agency has introduced about 37,000 persons to Google reverse image search, Tineye, Yandel and others.
He said that the agency trained 1000 fact-checkers in each state and FCT to curb the menace of fake news and misinformation.
“Arising from the foregoing, it is easy to understand why, this year alone, we at NOA embarked on the project of empowering 37,000 Nigerians with the skills to fact check information in the era of fake news and hate speech.
“We are already in Course 12 of that programme and several thousands of Nigerians, especially in the public service, have been equiped with that important skill to verify what is factual, true and appropriate in the information system.”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M