A Civil Society Group, Safeguarding Online Civic Space (SOCS) has sought the media partnership to combat misinformation, disinformation and fake news that trail the 2023 elections.
The Chairperson of SOCS, Dr Funmi Akinyele, made the disclosure at a news conference in Lagos on Friday.
Akinyele said the call was necessary because the integrity of this year’s general elections was significantly tested in the online civic space as most Nigerians got their information from social media.
The chairperson said as projected, the digital civic space played a crucial role in the decisions that a myriad of Nigerians took during the just concluded Presidential and Gubernatorial elections in the country.
She said, “Considering the ripples left behind by this menace of fake news during the last elections, the overarching goal of this project is to protect online civic space by combating voter misinformation and disinformation
while improving access to accurate civic information inclusively.
“Unfortunately, some individuals, either by omission or commission, have distorted information, leading to misinformation, disinformation, and malformation.
“The misuse and repression of both offline and digital civic spaces, no doubt, have contributed to the perceptions, mostly negative, of members of the international community about Nigeria.
“To strengthen the integrity of the electoral process, especially with the introduction of digital instruments, the digital civic space must be protected.
“We once more appeal to everyone to work with us as we continue to travel throughout the nation’s six geopolitical zones in our effort to protect the digital civic space by battling misinformation, disinformation, and online harassment and bullying.”
On his part, a representative of the Research Centre for Development Action, Austin Aigbe explained that prior to the elections, 108 fact checkers were trained to burst fake news which could have further affected the integrity of the last elections.
Aigbe urged government agencies to always release information as and when due to check misinformation, disinformation, and misinformation.
He said, “Each time government fails to put out information as quickly as possible, it creates room for disinformation peddlers to push out their own narratives and it takes more work to sieve out the right information.”
“The media must be conscious of the right information, as a matter of urgency, if they cannot independently verify a story, don’t share it.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Safeguarding Online Civic Space (SOCS) group is a loose cluster of mostly youth-led Civil Society Organisations and Business Membership Organisations from diverse areas within the social sector.
NAN reports that the group is funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Project. (NAN)