#WeekforTruth: Dubawa trains Abuja school’s students, teachers on information disorder, fact-checking

Dubawa, West Africa’s leading verification outlet, has trained over 100 students and staff members of the Unique Blossom School in Abuja on fact-checking and information disorder.

The training, which took place in the school’s auditorium on October 28, was organised by Dubawa as part of its activities for the 2024 Global Media and Information Literacy Week. This observance, tagged #WeekforTruth, was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The training is also part of ongoing efforts of Dubawa to combat the spread of misinformation among young people.

However, this round of training was organised in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria and implemented in secondary schools throughout Nigeria and other West African countries.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Temilade Onilede, the project manager at Dubawa, said that the need to address the spread of false information and educate young individuals was the driving force behind the training.

“We are in a digital world where access to information is free and easy. To combat misinformation, we decided to reach out to schools to educate students on how to consume online information responsibly, analyze it, and distinguish between true and false information. That’s why we are here today,” she said.

She mentioned that the team is working on establishing media and literacy clubs across secondary schools in Nigeria to accelerate and promote media literacy in the country.

Also speaking, Mboho Eno, the deputy director of Accountability project at Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), explained that the programme is designed for citizen education and sensitisation, particularly those vulnerable to misinformation due to their easy access to the internet.

“We aim to equip individuals with the ability to verify information before sharing it. Our goal is to have as many fact-checkers as possible, regardless of age,” he said.

Mr Enoh emphasised that this knowledge would spread to those who are not part of the programme, fostering early fact-checking skills among young people.

Participants were taken through diverse topics, including the concept of information disorder, the verification of fake narratives online, DUBAWA ChatBot, which is an Ai tool that fact-checks information briskly among others.

The participants were trained by in-house trainers from Dubawa. The facilitators included Sunday Awosoro, Lademi Aborisade, Cole Praise. The sessions were interactive, during which questions were asked and answered.

Participants speak

Muhammad Sadiq, a student of Unique Blossom School, who attended the training, said he gained comprehensive knowledge about what misinformation is and how to combat it to protect others from the destructive impact of fake news.

“I learnt that fact-checking can develop a society in a better way. When you’re verifying a piece of information that you get,” Muhammad, who is the assistant head boy of the school, said.

“I didn’t have a broad understanding of fact-checking but this training has sharpened my knowledge. Now, I have learnt how to use the Dubawa AI Chatbot boss to verify misinformation.”

Another participant, Saba Usman, said that the training was an eye-opener that instilled in her the spirit of curiosity to take every news she comes across on social media with speculation, as “one cannot immediately distinguish fake or true information.”

“With this Dubawa’s training, I have learnt how to verify information and how to make sure that information is true and how to spot misinformation and mal-information.

“I did not care about fact checking before because I did not know the dangers of fake news until now. The many ways they taught us to verify information are very helpful,” she added.

About Dubawa

Dubawa, an independent Fact-checking organization in Nigeria, and across Africa. DUBAWA is a foremost and reliable fact-checking outlet under the umbrella of Center for Journalism and Investigation Developing (CJID).