By Ikenna Uwadileke
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) on Wednesday commenced training of  35 journalists of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on how to detect and counter fake news during and after the general elections.

The two-day fact checking training held in Abuja was to sensitise participants on the danger posed by fake news and the tools to counter it.

Addressing participants at the training, the Managing Director of NAN, Mr Buki Ponle, urged them to take advantage of the training to excel on the job.

Ponle, who was represented by Mr Silas Nwoha, Editor-in- Chief of the agency, expressed concern over the wave of fake news and the consequences in the society.

” I want you to give it your all because no training is a waste.

” So let us pay attention to the rich experiences we can gain from the training.

“Sometimes we want to go overseas for one training or the other, meanwhile we have the experts here.

“So, whatever they are giving us today is also a different kind of knowledge you can get anywhere in the world.

“Please, I urge you to pay attention and get the best you can from this training so that we come back to the newsroom as better journalists,’’ Ponle said.

While commending the resource persons over the initiative, Ponle said that NAN was looking forward to having other training programmes for the agency’s journalists in different zones.

Speaking on the fake news ecosystem, Ms Caroline Anipah, Deputy Director in CJID, emphasised the need to deploy journalism tools and technology to promote democratic accountability.

According to her, one of the cardinal objectives of Dubawa is to address information disorder also called fake news.

One way of tackling fake news, she said, was through fact checking.

“We recognise as an organisation that we are not able to do that by ourselves alone and that we need to partner with relevant institutions.

“And we also recognise that we can achieve our goal by training people who interface with the public to help us achieve our mandate,’’ Anipah said.

Ms Temilade Onilede, Programme Officer of Dubawa Nigeria, said that the 21st century had seen the weaponisation of information on an unprecedented scale.

Onilede said that misinformation distorts reality and changes people’s perception of things.

She, however, urged that while reporting election processes, participants must be non-partisan, fair, objective, adhere to standards and ensure transparency of sources.

Kabir Muhammed, one of the participants and an Assistant Editor-in-Chief, described the training programme as a welcome development.

“With this training NAN staff can excel and take the agency to greater heights by giving out their best through credible and qualitative information,’’ Muhammed said.

Participants were trained on information disorder ecosystem, fact-checking practice, methodology and ethics as well as digital verification tools. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
(Edited by Mufutau Ojo)

2023 elections: Saying yes to our dream of a better Nigeria

A news analysis by Ismail Abdulaziz, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

The 2023 general elections in Nigeria is no doubt another milestone in the journey of democratic rule in the country. Over the years since independence, Nigeria has had a long unbroken history of twenty four years of democratic administration since 1999 when the second republic come into existence.

From Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo to Umaru Yar’Adua to Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, it has been a long journey making Nigeria a top notch nation in democratic experience in Africa and across the globe.

Two major parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the amalgamation of parties that metamorphosed into the All Progressive Party (APC) have been on the saddle of leading the country in these twenty four years.

The ground norm is that Nigerians and the country have made progress in several fields including the economy, social and political spheres. The best take away is that the knowledge of democratic development has continued to expand and people are slowly getting into the rhythm of resolving challenges in a democratic manner.

The recourse to constitutional rule of solving issues is taking root in the country and Nigeria is becoming a reference point in the region over time.

The 2023 general elections for another round of electing leaders from the grassroots to the states and national level have presented itself again. Democracy is supposed to be the rule of the people by the people and for the people.

The electorate again have the chance to further consolidate on the gains of twenty years of democratic rule in the country by choosing the right leader to lead them for the next four years.

President Buhari has demonstrated in various for the readiness of his administration to make the votes of the people count in the elections. The electoral act 2022 took cognisance of the many challenges that come with elections in the country and aptly address them.

Various groups, locally, regionally and internationally have also contributed their quota in consolidating the various gains of the democratic years in the country.

During the February and March general elections, Nigeria are expected to show their readiness to move the country forward through the ballot box by voting the leaders that would address the myriad challenges confronting them daily in their personal and national lives.

Smooth transition is a norm that must be imbibed by all Nigerians to ensure a better future for the young and aged alike. No doubt each leader at the all levels have contributed one way or the other in what has become Nigeria of today and more is still needed to correct some of the lapses that arose due to sincere policies and programmes that had been put in place.

This is with the sound reasoning that no leader comes to use his administration to see the downfall of a country; although misconceptions and interest may have come to play in taking such decisions.

From 1999 up to this period, Nigeria has achieved progress that is unprecedented in the life of a country. We only need to patriotically scrutinise such decisions in our in personal and national lives as patriotic citizens. Development in a country comes with its various challenges.

In transiting from one national development to the other, an administration may have the luck of starting and completing a policy or programme. In democracy, what is most required is for the citizens to be cautions of the short and long term benefit of policies and programmes.

This will allow for the needed decision to vote accordingly the leaders required to either change them or continue with them.

The ballot box is definitely the better option of attain development in a democracy. The fact that an electoral umpire has been put in place and given the necessary rules and regulations of conduct is a way to go and it serves as a way for holding leaders accountable to the people and the nation.

Nigeria has gone through a lot in arriving at where it is today, the elections would continue to be used by all patriotic citizens to answer the call of history that a decision had been taken. History, they said, would forgive you for taking a decision but it would never forgive you for not taking a decision at all.

The 2023 general elections is a litmus test of saying yes to our dreams of a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria. A dream for us now, and our present as well as our future.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

**If used please credit the writer and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

***This article is with support from Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF), a pro-peace and good governance initiative dedicated to preserving and promoting democratic principles as a prerequisite for peace and prosperity in Africa.

By George Odok

The University of Calabar has suspended four staff of the institution’s medical center over the death of Ms. Precious Agindi.

Agindi was a third year student of the institution at the department of Library and Information Science.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Agindi died on Jan. 28 at the institution’s Medical Center.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof. Florence Obi, on Tuesday briefed newsmen after receiving the autopsy report.

She said that the staff were placed on the suspension for showing lack of “emotional commitment” to the deceased.

Obi said that the autopsy gave a detailed cause of death of the student who was brought to the medical center at a very critical state where she died in less than an hour later.

“For emphasis, let me categorically state that the death of Ms Precious Agindi had nothing to do with the rumored ruptured appendicitis as her appendix was found at autopsy to be healthy, not inflamed and intact.

“This regrettable incident sparked very strong emotions, students’ demonstrations on that fateful day and a lot of misinformation and outright falsehood peddled by ill-informed and mischievous people, both within and outside the campus.

“Regrettably, the lies that have been deposited in the public space, conscientiously or unconsciously, as amplified by social media, have had a damaging impact on the reputation and image of our university that my administration is working very hard to protect.

“Management chose not to join issues with peddlers of falsehood at a time of deep sadness and sober reflection.

“These persons without cause hastily blamed the death on the Medical Centre and by extension the university,” she said.

She noted that the university maintained studied silence and strongly investigated the handling of the patient at the facility by constituting a panel of inquiry as well as carrying out a Coroner’s Inquest to determine the cause of death.

“This, we are sure will serve a great purpose in the future, for understanding the causes of things is one of the callings of the university.

“As I addressed protesting students on campus that fateful day, this much I promised we would do.

“In fulfillment of this, with the full approval of the family of the deceased, we ordered an autopsy which was carried out by one of the foremost Nigerian Forensic Pathologists.

“We are thankful to God that our late student was peacefully laid to rest on Feb. 11, 2023 in her hometown, Gbe Nanav in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.

“Yesterday, in the presence of the representatives of the family, the Benue and Tiv Community in the University, SUG officials, members of the Panel of Inquiry, Management received the Autopsy and the panel of inquiry reports.”

She said that the late student never went to the university medical center but was only taken there by her friends in a very critical medical condition the day she died.

“Please note that Ms Precious had received treatment from other private clinics in town from the scan result and other medications presented to the nurses on duty when she was brought in.

“The panel of inquiry made up of experienced medical consultants and doctors absolved the nurses on duty of any professional negligence but saw elements of lack of emotional commitment as medical professionals.

“While life and death are both in God’s hands, management of the university strongly believe that it is our responsibility to do our best at our respective duty posts to offer the service of care both professionally and emotionally considering our quest for excellence as an academic institution.

“It is on this note that management feels that medical personnel in our medical center must give not just professional services but emotional and psychological services which are more soothing especially when one is on a sick bed.”

The VC noted that the problem of commitment to work in the University of Calabar was a pillar that the institution gives great value in all its sections, including the Medical Centre.

“Management has, therefore, decided to place all the staff on duty on a 3-months suspension for lack of empathy and psychological support and especially for demanding for money for card against the medical center policy of attending to patients in critical condition first.

“The above investigation has revealed, that the patient was brought to the Medical Centre critically ill and her eventual death shortly after arrival was not as a result of professional negligence by staff of the medical center.

“Also, there is an established clinical condition as cause of death which in deferment to the family and in respect to the dead we do not wish to reveal.

“Yet all sorts of lies have been told both online and offline to batter the image of the University and instigate unrest among the students,” she said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ismail AbdulAziz