A team of experts from the Spanish government has conducted a two-day training for Nigerian journalists and fact-checkers on tackling the menace of disinformation and ensuring digital security in their operations.
No fewer than 35 journalists were trained in Abuja by the experts from Casa África, in collaboration with the Director-General, Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Embassy of Spain in Nigeria and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) of Nigeria.
According to a release on Thursday, the training was also held in collaboration with fact-checking platform, Dubawa.
“This initiative is part of the #PeriodismoÁfrica program of Casa África, which seeks to bring Africa and Spain closer together through educational, economic, cultural and informative activities. For 15 years, Casa África has been fighting against stereotypes in the narratives about the African continent and supporting the role of journalism as a powerful tool in the fight against misinformation.
“The training in Abuja has been the third training experience of the #PeriodismoÁfrica programme, which aims to take advantage of the talent and high innovation existing in the field of verification and the fight against misinformation in Spain to improve the training of African journalists, who have a huge challenge in misinformation. The first two experiences were carried out in Kenya and Namibia, with great success and satisfaction from the participants.
“Casa África plans to continue deepening this programme, as early as next September through the IV Meeting of Journalists Africa-Spain, which will take place in Madrid on September 26-27 and will focus on both misinformation and narratives about Africa in Spain and Europe,” the release said.
Speaking at the training, José Segura Clavell, the Director-General of Casa África, said: “We are very proud to collaborate with our Nigerian partners in this training program that aims to strengthen the capacities of African journalists in fact-checking and digital security. We believe that these skills are essential for a quality journalism that can inform citizens and combat misinformation that can undermine democracy and human rights.”
Also, Dr. Tobi Oluwatola, the CJID Director said, “AI and its new iteration of large language models have changed the world in ways we do not fully comprehend yet. It is critical that Journalists are able to explain and leverage them for democratic purposes such as verification and digital literacy.”
Meanwhile, Spanish ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Sell, who attended the closing ceremony of the training to hand over to the participants their certificates, reminded “that Spain is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU this Semester and that among our priorities there is certainly the support of a free, independent, trustworthy and competent media, in Africa and elsewhere, as it is a prerequisite for a thriving and inclusive democracy.
“Casa Africa is hitting the bulls-eye by bringing the most specialized fact checkers of Spain to train Nigerian journalists and partnering with Dubawa, an already reputed platform in the field of nowadays essential fight against disinformation.”