Jega lashes out at politicians for spreading fake news on social media

A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega on Monday expressed concern over the use of WhatsApp by politicians and candidates to spread fake news in Nigeria, especially during elections. 

He raised the alarm in Abuja during the public presentation of a research finding entitled: “The use and abuse of WhatsApp in African election: Nigeria 2019”,  carried out by a team of experts from Nigeria and United Kingdom, including the Centre for Democracy and Development and University of Birmingham. 

Jega had earlier described the social media platforms especially the WhatsApp as an agent of growth and development often misused by so many people.  

He however said the key challenge it poses to researchers in the country and beyond was to keep looking into ways of fostering a better understanding of it amongst the citizen with a view to put it to good use.

According to Jega, the WhatsApp platform can be used as a tool for political mobilisation during elections, for general credible civil education and as a means of sharing credible news rather than the tendency to use to circulate fake news or disinformation.

“Definitely social media can be agency for growth but a lot of other people abuse or misuse it.The key challenge is to keep on looking to understand how best to put it to good use, whether it is for political mobilisation for elections or for general credible civic education  even for sharing credible news rather than the tendency that we see now in which it is used to circulate fake news.”

The research team, led by Dr. Jonathan Fisher of the University of Birmingham included the Director of CDD, Ms. Idayat Hassan; independent consultant, Jamie Hitchen and Prof. Nic Cheeseman of University of Birmingham. 

Hassan called on the Federal Government to always be open and make information available to counter the menace of fake news. 

She said, “The most important thing that the government has to do in terms of countering fake news and disinformation is to always be open and make information available to all parties including the press. 

“Most times, what happens is when there are these kind of news that are going all over platforms, you reach out to the government through their spokesperson and say ‘is this true or not?’ The processes, the time within which they respond, that is if they respond, allows fake news to spread wider, and you know this is just like a wild fire that you are actually dealing with.

“There must be promptness, there must be openness, they have to consider information as a right to the people, they have to see that we are living in a world where disinformation is fast eroding democracy.”

Jega said, “I did not study it; we came and listened to people who studied it and from what they have said, you see that some people used it (WhatsApp) for the good. But many people used it negatively in terms of false news or fake news or disinformation. 

“The challenge is how political parties or candidates will continue to use these platforms positively and I think that is what can add value to our process. I would like to see a situation in which increasingly credible news is used on the platform rather than fake news. 

“Obviously, political parties and candidates can use these platforms to inform voters and to inform the public about their policies, about their programmes, rather than use it in a manner in which they are abusing or casting aspersion or using fake postings.

“It is very very important that we use it for the good in terms of how we can add value to our political development and how it can add value to the integrity of the elections. I think the purpose of research is to study and to explain what is happening and arising from that you pull out recommendations that can help to add value. The researchers have made very good recommendations that they are making in terms of the use of WhatsApp in Nigerian politics can be made even better.

“The key challenge is to keep on looking and understand how best to put it to good use, whether it is for political mobilisation for elections or for general credible civic education even for sharing credible news rather than the tendency that we see now in which it is used to circulate fake news. 

“So this research basically tried to help us understand how Nigerians are using WhatsApp as a platform for either electioneering campaigns or for general political activities. I think it is good that we begin to pay greater attention to that. 

“I believe the researchers are pacesetters, they have started something good and many researchers can go into that. Some of the contributors were raising issues of about how small the sample for the study is because they focused primarily on Kano and Borno states. 

“So other researchers can come in and look at all the other areas and the more we are able to do the research, the better we will be informed about most of the good uses and the bad uses of social media and how best we can improve the good uses and mitigate the bad uses.”

Fisher said, “Our research shows that while WhatsApp replicates existing political patron-client networks to some extent, it is also helping less traditional power-players to enter the political arena – particularly tech-savvy youth.”

For Hitchen, “The interaction between information shared on WhatsApp and the offline context is a crucial part of the digital eco-system, and challenges claims that the platform has revolutionised political campaigning.”

“Social media platforms are both a threat to democracy and a way to strengthen it. WhatsApp is being used to spread “fake news” on the one hand, and run fact-checking campaigns and election observation on the other. The challenge is to reduce risks without undermining the way that social media can strengthen accountability and promote inclusion”, Cheeseman stated.

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