Nigeria digital misinformation and civic education efforts

Nigeria has initiated several programs aimed at enhancing digital literacy and combating misinformation to protect democratic processes.

Initial efforts focused on civic education and information integrity. The youth-led organization ROUNDCHECK introduced ‘Civic Play’, a digital game designed to teach democratic processes and media literacy to students in Lagos, Oyo, and Ogun states. Simultaneously, FactCheck Africa held workshops in Osun State to train journalists and civil society members on identifying deepfakes and synthetic media ahead of governorship elections.

Building on these efforts, the National Digital Peace Ambassadors (NDPA) launched a campaign in Abuja titled ‘Digital Peace and National Security: Building Responsible Voices for a United Nigeria’. National Secretary Erikan Obong noted that the struggle for national peace has moved into the digital space, warning that AI-facilitated false allegations against ethnic or religious groups could trigger mistrust. The NDPA expressed specific concern regarding the potential for propaganda and manipulated content to exploit tensions during the 2027 general elections, while maintaining that ‘A peaceful digital space must not mean a silent digital space.’