FORCE Public Relations Officer Olumuyiwa Adejobi has said the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) is the number one fact-checking organisation in Nigeria.
He made this remark on Tuesday while speaking at the Nigerian Fact-Checkers Coalition conference in Abuja with the theme, ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Election: Curbing Information Disorder’.
The NPF spokesman who was represented at the event by Kalu Chijioke, explained that most of the activities of the police such as community policing, community dialogue and especially documentation of facts about events in the country are forms of fact-checking.
“Nigeria Police is the first and number one fact-checking organisation in the country because what all these fact-checking organisations are doing is community police job.
“We are actually doing community policing and one aspect of our community policing project is forum-based approach which means at the community level, the DPOs are always encouraged to sit down with the community members.
“What is actually going on here is community policing and we employ more agencies like the media to propagate such dialogue because every day at the counter, we deal with facts on a daily basis.”
He further urged the media, civil society and the public to partner and collaborate with police in problem solving, adding that the police is now adopting a people-centred policing approach.
“At the community level, if you have regular meetings with the DPO and or any police officer in charge of that community, there would be no room for misinformation and disinformation. Every information will be clear at that level,” he said.
The police spokesperson stressed the need for early voter education by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders in order to stem the tide of information disorder in the forthcoming 2023 gene general elections.
He commended the organisers of the event, noting that it would go a long way in curbing misinformation in the society.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.