Spanish Embassy Trains Journalists Against Electoral Misinformation

By Olakunle Olasanmi and Cynthia Onuado, Abuja

The Spanish Embassy in Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening credible journalism and combating electoral misinformation by equipping journalists with advanced fact-checking skills ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The embassy, through its Cultural Office, organised a two-day advanced course on electoral misinformation and fact-checking for Nigerian journalists in Abuja.

The training focused on the uses and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in newsrooms, while providing the participants with practical tools to identify, analyse and counter electoral disinformation.

The programme was organised by the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria alongside Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation and Casa África’s PeriodismoAfrica programme, in collaboration with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Maldita.es, EFE Verifica, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Alkalanci.

At the workshop, the cultural adviser at the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria, Eva Barta Martin, said the initiative was aimed at equipping journalists with the skills to identify and counter disinformation, particularly during election periods.

She stressed that access to credible information remains critical to informed public participation and democratic development, noting that strengthening fact-checking capacities and media literacy would help build public trust in the information ecosystem.

“We have organised this electoral disinformation and fact-checking training in Abuja in collaboration with Casa Africa and with CJID. This is the second edition, so to say, that we organised of this training. We had one already on fact-checking and disinformation in 2023 and it’s also one among a series of trainings that we have held on journalism.

“We have also done in the past health misinformation and disinformation in the field of health. At a time when elections are very affected by disinformation and misinformation, we thought that it was the right time to organise this training to strengthen fact-checking skills and also to promote responsible journalism.

“At the same time, for the Embassy, it’s a small way to give back to the journalists who always support us in the activities we organise and they come and join us to cover the activities.”

On the significance of the training, Martin said Nigerian journalists demonstrated remarkable talent but often lacked access to specialised verification tools.

Also, Head of Media Relations at Casa África, Joan Tusell, said the growing threat of disinformation, particularly during elections, informed the decision to organise the training.

According to him, the programme combines Spain’s expertise in media verification with the experience of Nigerian fact-checkers to strengthen journalists’ capacity to tackle false information.

“Working with Casa Africa, you know it’s a public diplomacy institution in Spain, in the last 10 years we have been working with journalists around Africa and doing some trainings. The last few years we have seen disinformation is the most important issue around journalists. I would say the most critical issue right now because we really can’t let things happen. It’s really harming democratic and electoral processes.

“So we took advantage that in Spain, we have some media expertise and we brought them here to Abuja to partner with the local fact-checkers here. We thought that this advanced know-how of the Spanish part combined with the high expertise and knowledge of the Nigerian scenery of Nigerian fact-checkers could be a good combination to set up a training and be helpful

Meanwhile, Publisher of Alkalanci (The Arbiter), Alhassan Bala, called for increased investment in local-language fact-checking, describing it as a critical step towards curbing electoral disinformation and protecting Nigeria’s democracy.

Bala, whose organisation is Nigeria’s first Hausa-language fact-checking and media literacy platform, said misinformation spreads rapidly in indigenous languages, particularly through social media and community-based communication channels.

“There are more than 250 local languages in Nigeria, and people tend to understand and think in their local languages than in the English language. Local language disinformation evades detection because fact-checkers are trained in foreign languages and media organisations invest more in non-local-language fact-checking.”

According to him, local-language content remains particularly vulnerable because most social media trust and safety teams, as well as AI moderation systems, are primarily trained on English-language content.