Sokoto Clerics Trained in Fact-Checking, Combating Falsehood

A Fact-Checking media firm, Alkalanci, in collaboration with the Sokoto State Ministry of Religious Affairs, has organised a two-day workshop for Islamic clerics on building resilient communities against falsehood.

The workshop, with its title, “Combatting False Narratives and Promoting Media Literacy” and a theme, “Building Resilient Communities Through Fact-Checking”, has in attendance highly respected clerics from the state.

In his opening remarks, the state commissioner for Religious Affairs, Jabir Maihula, appealed to Islamic clerics in Nigeria to always make objectivity and truth their watchwords.

Truth, according to Maihula, brings out untainted integrity, commands respect and creates a safer society for all.

Making a presentation on “Recognising Biased and Manipulative Content: Sensationalism, Political Manipulation, Misinformation and Hate Speech”, the state chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Usman Mohammed Binji, submitted that information disorder has emerged as one of the most serious social challenges confronting contemporary Nigerian society.

“The rapid expansion of social media, combined with declining trust in traditional gatekeepers of information, has created fertile ground for sensationalism, political manipulation, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech”.

On the likely negative consequences of the above, Binji said, “These phenomena have contributed to social tension, electoral violence, religious misunderstanding, and, in extreme cases, loss of lives.”

Binji, however, maintained that the mosques and Islamic clerics can serve as effective centres of verification, guidance and crisis prevention by promoting media literacy, ethical communication and community resilience.