Africa Check Holds Virtual Training For Nigerian Student Journalists

Africa Check, a non-profit organisation promoting accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa, held a one-day virtual training exercise for student journalists in Nigeria, on September 14, 2020.

More than 30 students who are studying in Nigerian tertiary institutions were in attendance at the virtual training on detecting and debunking health misinformation.

The training covered topics such as ‘The impact of misinformation on communicating #COVID19 in Nigeria,’ ‘Understanding “misinfodemics” and how viral misinformation can fuel the spread of diseases,’ ‘Online tools for image verification’ and ‘How fact-checking can help you be a better journalist.’

The participants commended the exercise and spoke about their experience.

“The training was fantastic! I like the way the facilitators made sure everyone did one or two exercises. What we need during this period is a total reduction in misinformation. Armed with the knowledge I acquired from the training, I can fact check claims,” Rauf Fasilat, a student at the University of Ibadan, said.

Another participant from the Lagos State University, Eletu -Odibo Kofoworola, said: “Africa Check has done manifestly well to have introduced this training to an upcoming  journalist like some of us who are aspiring to be great fact-checkers in order to curb fake news in our society because it is believed the kind of information we received determines the  decision we made.”