ýThe National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), and the International Press Centre (IPC) have raised concerns over the growing threat of deepfakes, artificial intelligence-driven disinformation, and coordinated misinformation campaigns to Nigeria’s democracy, urging journalists to strengthen fact-checking mechanisms ahead of future elections.
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ýThe stakeholders gave the charge recently at a Technical Summit on Elevating Fact-Checking Capabilities of Journalists organised by CEMESO in Abuja, where media experts warned that the country’s electoral information ecosystem was increasingly vulnerable to manipulation through AI-generated content and coordinated digital propaganda.
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ýSpeaking at the summit on behalf of the Director-General of NBC, the Commission’s Director of Broadcast Policy and Research, Stella Erhunmwunsee, said misinformation and disinformation had become direct threats to national stability, democratic legitimacy, and public trust.
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ýShe said the integrity of information dissemination was now as important as the integrity of the electoral process itself.
ý’We are operating in an information environment that is increasingly complex, fast-moving and, at times, volatile. The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, particularly in the context of elections, poses a direct challenge not only to media credibility but also to national stability, public trust and democratic legitimacy,’ she said.
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ýAccording to her, distorted information compromises public perception and ultimately places democratic outcomes at risk.
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ýErhunmwunsee stressed that fact-checking must no longer be treated as an optional journalistic responsibility but as a core professional obligation requiring proactive and technologically enabled verification systems.
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ý’Accuracy is no longer sufficient on its own; verification must be proactive, continuous and technologically enabled. The media must evolve at the same pace as the threats it seeks to counter,’ she stated.
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ýShe also described the unveiling of an AI Fact-Checking Tool Guide at the summit as a major step toward proactive verification and newsroom accountability.
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ýThe NBC official urged media organisations to institutionalise fact-checking in editorial workflows, warning that technology alone would not solve the growing problem of information disorder without ethical and professional discipline among journalists.
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ýProviding a broader context to the danger posed by deepfakes and AI-generated propaganda, Executive Director of Centre for Media and Society, Akin Akingbulu, warned that Nigeria was entering a dangerous era where artificial intelligence had ‘industrialised the production of disinformation.’
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ýAccording to him, AI tools now allow false narratives to be produced ‘at scale, at speed, and with a sophistication that makes detection exponentially harder.’
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ýHe disclosed that between 2019 and 2023, deepfake content globally increased by over 500 percent, adding that Nigeria had already suffered the consequences.
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ýAkingbulu cited cases where AI-generated videos falsely showed international celebrities endorsing presidential candidates during the 2023 elections, while cloned audio recordings were used to fabricate conversations between political figures.
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ý’In June 2025, a synthetic video was specifically designed to inflame farming and herding conflicts in Benue State that have historically triggered deadly violence,’ he said.
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ýHe added that AI-generated clips of foreign leaders discussing Nigerian oil and political issues were also circulating online with hundreds of thousands of views, thereby manipulating public opinion and amplifying propaganda.
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ý’What we are witnessing is the simultaneous scaling up of the threat and the scaling down of our defences. That asymmetry is not a coincidence. It is a crisis,’ he warned.
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ýAkingbulu said disinformation campaigns in Nigeria were increasingly exploiting ethnic and religious divisions, targeting vulnerable groups, and undermining confidence in democratic institutions.
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ýHe linked the trend to declining voter participation, noting that turnout during the 2023 general elections dropped to 27 percent.
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ý’Disinformation in Nigeria is not random. It is purposeful. It exploits ethno-religious fault lines, weaponises identity, and targets the populations least equipped to contest it,’ he said.
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ýHe also raised concerns over the growing influence of paid online influencers coordinating propaganda campaigns across WhatsApp groups and X, formerly Twitter.
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ý’This is not organic political communication. It is a shadow industry. And until we treat it as one, our regulatory responses will remain inadequate,’ he stated.
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ýAkingbulu warned that the 2027 elections could witness ‘the most technologically complex disinformation campaign in African history’ if urgent steps were not taken to strengthen verification systems and newsroom capacity.
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ýHe disclosed that CEMESO, through its haltfake.org initiative, had intensified efforts to track and neutralise AI-driven misinformation, fabricated political alliances, deepfake endorsements, and synthetic voice notes capable of triggering unrest.
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ýHe added that the organisation had already trained over 100 journalists and newsroom leaders in Ekiti State and recently conducted specialised sessions for journalists at Aso Radio Television and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
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ýThe CEMESO boss also announced plans to establish Campus Newsroom Labs in tertiary institutions to train young journalists in civic education and fact-checking practices.
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ýAlso speaking, Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, said advancements in artificial intelligence had significantly complicated efforts to verify information.
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ýArogundade noted that AI-powered technologies could now generate highly realistic videos, images, and audio capable of misleading the public.
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ý’Deepfake and other forms of AI manipulation are indeed making it increasingly difficult for people to know what to believe,’ he said.
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ýAccording to him, detecting and debunking AI-generated disinformation requires both human expertise and technological tools.
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ýHe warned that AI manipulation tools were advancing faster than existing safeguards and fact-checking systems.
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ýThe summit, supported by the European Union under the EU Support to Democratic Governance Programme Phase II, brought together journalists, civil society groups, regulators, and media stakeholders to discuss strategies for strengthening electoral information integrity ahead of upcoming elections in Ekiti, Osun, and the 2027 general elections.