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Elections: Shun disinformation, hate speech-NOA
The National Orientation Agency (NOA), has urged Nigerians to disinformation and hate speech which are capable of disrupting electoral processes and peaceful outcome of the general elections.
NOA Director, Special Duties and State Operations, Mr David Akoji, gave the advice on Thursday at a Motorised Sticker Campaign against Disinformation and Hate Speech in Abuja.
Akoji said, “as we draw close to the election now, we are going on the streets on a Motorised Sticker Campaign to further raise awareness on the public that they don’t need to accept everything they read in the social media.
“They should stop, reflect and fact check by asking questions to authenticate the truth about whatever they see on the social media before sharing widely.
“This is important because since the advent of digital media the speed at which information travels is unimaginable this day. When you drop bad message, it goes viral within minutes.”
According to him, it becomes extremely important for us to sensitise the public that they should not accept what they see before they fact check.
He urged the public to pause, verify, fact check and interrogate the intent of those who are putting out such messages.
“If these are done, at the end of the day we can have peaceful general elections that are violent free,” NOA director said.
He explained that the agency had been monitoring the social media space, saying that the disinformation and misinformation had negative impact on the general public.
According to him, this disinformation, sometimes, comes in form of deep fake videos that make people say things they did not say.
“It also comes by way of disinformation, harvesting videos that happened in the past and contentualising them into present.
“All of these are feeding into perception that people are having about various candidates for various levels of elective positions.
“We have also seen that some of these disinformation have the capacity to instigate violence and hatred,” he said.
Akoji said that the agency had responded to address the unwholesome situation by building the capacity of diverse members of the public in its fact check course Programme.
He said that the campaign was part of the agency’s efforts on sensitisation, reorientation and advocacy in the build up to the general elections across the country.