Media professionals, scholars, and regulators, have raised urgent concerns over the growing spread of fake news and unethical digital journalism in Nigeria, warning it poses serious risks to democracy, public trust, and national security.
The warning, as noticed by WorldClass247News, came during a high-level forum on Strategic Deliberations on Mitigating Fake News and Unethical Journalism, hosted by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Association of Bloggers and Journalists Against Fake News (ABJFN).
The event, held at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) auditorium in Abuja, also saw the Association hint at plans to host a National Stakeholders’ Summit to develop a formal Code of Ethics for Nigerian bloggers.
In his opening remarks, FCT ABJFN Coordinator, Obiora Orji, described fake news as “a dangerous social virus” and stressed the need for professional standards in Nigeria’s digital media space.
“Fake news has become an existential threat to our society eroding trust, inflaming divisions, and undermining the very essence of journalism,” Orji said.
He called for deeper collaboration between media practitioners and regulatory bodies like the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), and National Orientation Agency (NOA). “It is only through collective action that we can restore ethical sanity to the digital information environment,” he added.
On his part, veteran broadcaster, Dr. Bayo Atoyebi, a former DG of the NBC and Executive Secretary of the NPC, described the situation as a “national crisis of credibility.” While commending the ABJFN initiative, he stressed the importance of aligning with regulatory institutions to build trust and professionalism.
“Posting online is not harmless; it is broadcasting,” Atoyebi said. “And the reach of one social media post often exceeds that of radio or TV.”
He urged online content creators to uphold journalism ethics, quoting scholar Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye: “Those who post unverified information online and call themselves journalists are not journalists.”
Delivering a presentation on behalf of media scholar Dr. Theophilus Abbah, investigative journalist Daniel Adaji explored the concept of information disorder.
He outlined the three major forms-misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, calling for urgent investment in information literacy.
“Fake news thrives on emotion and bias,” he said. “The only long-term solution is education, not censorship.”
Drawing on resources from BBC, First Draft, and UNESCO, he emphasized that educating citizens to critically assess information is key to halting the spread of falsehoods. “When falsehood is repeated often enough, it begins to sound like truth,” he warned.
In a paper titled “Ethics of Reporting in the Digital Age”, veteran journalist Alhaji Danjuma Abdullahi, stressed that freedom of expression must be balanced with responsibility.
“Freedom without responsibility is recklessness,” he said. While acknowledging the rights enshrined in Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, Abdullahi pointed to the Cybercrimes Act 2025 as a necessary tool to combat digital abuse including cyberstalking, identity theft, and misinformation. However, he cautioned that enforcement must be fair and not used to stifle dissent.
Quoting media icon Joseph Pulitzer, he reminded attendees that journalism must be clear, accurate, and impactful to guide society.
In his closing remarks, ABJFN National President. James Ezena, announced plans for a National Stakeholders’ Summit on a National Bloggers’ Code of Ethics and Standards.
The proposed code, as made known by him, will mirror existing standards like the Nigerian Broadcasting Code and Journalist’s Code of Ethics, geared towards professionalising the blogging space and curb the spread of disinformation.
“This summit will be a defining step toward institutionalising standards for digital content creators,” Ezema told reporters. “Our goal is to promote responsible freedom — ensuring that the right to publish is matched by the duty to be truthful.”