{"id":7218,"date":"2020-12-28T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T07:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=7218"},"modified":"2020-12-28T08:00:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T07:00:14","slug":"examining-national-orientation-agencys-engagement-with-its-digital-community-in-combating-fake-news-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/examining-national-orientation-agencys-engagement-with-its-digital-community-in-combating-fake-news-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining National Orientation Agency\u2019s Engagement with Its Digital Community in Combating \u201cFake News\u201d Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Nigerian government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to the threat of misinformation and disinformation in recent times: Launching public campaigns against fake information, tightening its noose against mainstream media by ways of sanction and heavy fine, and also threatening stiffer social media regulation. In its public campaign approach, it has partnered with the National Orientation Agency (NOA). This study seeks to assess the level of efforts put up by the agency on its social media platform to educate its online public; evaluate how far the agency\u2019s message on misinformation resonates with its online community; assess the level of engagement and partnership with other stakeholders in fighting information disorder in Nigeria.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Adopting content analysis and interview as research methods, study shows that while the agency created a considerable number of valuable contents on its platform,&nbsp; little evidence shows sufficient readiness to up-take campaigns on information disorder on social media. Two, there is evidence of cooperation and deliberate partnership with other public and civil society stakeholders in the campaign against misinformation online as the agency retweeted valuable contents from its online partners, yet it relies more on them for its content creation on anti-fake campaigns. Lastly, the agency\u2019s online public found the contents authored by it less valuable and less resonating than contents shared from its partners. As a result, its online public engaged more with posts retweeted from other partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The study concludes that while the federal government is bent on regulating social media and sanctioning abuse of the media, it abrogates its duty by depending more on civil society and foreign agencies to educate and enlighten citizens on the danger of misinformation on democracy and national unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">By recommendation, more study is imperative to investigate what motivates online communities of users to engage with messages created and shared on anti- fake campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Introduction: <\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In July 2018 and April 2020, the Nigerian government launched a \u201cpublic campaign against fake news\u201d (Premium Times, 2018) and also launched \u201ccampaigns to media houses and cooperation with Facebook and Google\u201d (AllAfrica, 2020). The overall objective was to create media literacy among Nigerians, particularly young people who are highly active online and social media. According to the minister of information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the campaign against fake news \u201cwas linked to the possible effects of rumours towards the escalation of related crisis across the country\u201d and that the campaign would include active collaboration with digital as well as traditional media and the National Orientation Agency to educate Nigerians on the effect of fake news on Nigeria\u2019s democracy and its corporate existence as a nation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The foregoing was sequel to concerns being raised over the capacity of social media and technology companies to control the kind of contents being trafficked on their platforms (Ray Walsh, 2o20). This is in the face of several partnerships at the instance of technology companies, particularly Facebook and Twitter, with fact-checking organisations to help verify viral claims making the round in the public space and flag down anyone suspected to be deliberate purveyors of misleading information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Stakeholders have concluded that disinformation and misinformation are very dangerous to the society and democracy, even though UNESCO has said \u201cdisinformation is particularly dangerous because it is frequently organised, well resourced, and reinforced by automated technology\u201d (UNESCO 2018). Recent study shows government officials, politicians, and electoral candidates are more culpable&nbsp; in spreading false information (Raheemat, 2020, Raji, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">It is quite commendable that some countries of the World are coming up with policies and legislation to tackle the spread of false information in the public space and, in some cases, exploring these measures to gag free speech (Funke Daniel, 2018).&nbsp; <strong><em>Nigerian government, while it is also threatening policies and legislation to regulate the social media, has adopted media&nbsp; public education, partnering with the National Orientation Agency (NOA).&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Leveraging on the latter measure, this study seeks to understand how the agency has engaged its online community to achieve the desired goal as highlighted by the government. The study thereby tracked the content created on the agency\u2019s twitter handle within a period of seven months (May-November, 2020) to assess the efforts of the Federal agency in up-taking the campaign to educate Nigerians on the effect of fake news and create media literacy campaigns for social media and online users.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The objectives of this study are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To assess the level of efforts by the agency on its social media platform to educate its online users;<\/li><li>To evaluate how far the agency\u2019s message on misinformation resonate with its online community;<\/li><li>To assess the level of engagement and partnership with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">This study is justified for a number of reasons. First, it leverages the proposed involvement of the National Orientation Agency by the Ministry of Information and Culture to support its anti-misinformation campaign in Nigeria.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Second, the study chooses to interrogate the extent of the partnership between Nigeria\u2019s ministry of education and technology giants in relation to mitigating the spread of disinformation and misinformation. Third, the period covered in this study (May -November, 2020) is chosen to assess how the agency has taken the campaign to its online public after a couple of months following the minister\u2019s statement in April 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Third, the twitter handle of the agency is chosen in evaluating the National Orientation agency because its Director General stated in an interview with this researcher that it is one of the engagement platforms which it uses to reach Nigerians online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Information gathered from the agency\u2019s website shows that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The agency boasts of over 5000 staff spanning across 36 states of the federation including the FCT and the 774 local Government Offices.<\/li><li>It claims to have over 15 engagement platforms tailored to reach the highest number of Nigerians using its major segmentation approaches.<\/li><li>It claims it has reached over 64% of Nigerian citizens.<\/li><li>It also claims no other organ of government has this kind of spread and capacity for public enlightenment and sensitization campaigns. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noa.gov.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.noa.gov.ng<\/a>)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lessons from Other Lands<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Issues around false information have become a hard nut to crack to many stakeholders, particularly when evidence abounds that online and social media platforms have become willing tools in the hands of perpetrators of false information. Very recently, a peaceful campaign, tagged #EndSARS, against police brutality and recklessness by a section of the Nigerian youths was hijacked by hoodlums and anti-#EndSARS protesters <em>through the<\/em> <em>mercenary of false information<\/em>. This, <em>perhaps <\/em>prompted the Nigerian government calling for a renewed process towards regulating the social media. The<strong> <\/strong>Nigerian government, through the Minister of Information, \u201clamented that celebrities used the social media to circulate fake news during the #EndSARS crisis\u201d (The Punch, 2020) and has also threatened to take action against the issue. \u201cWhat we have always advocated, and what we will do, is to regulate the social media. Nigeria is not alone in this regard.\u201d (The Nation, 2020). &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Truly, Nigerian is not alone in this regard. Library of Congress Law (2019) has reported some steps being taken by the UK government to tackle false information through a combination of legislation and policies. For instance, The Fusion Doctrine provides that the intelligence services are responsible for identifying social media platforms that distribute misinformation and disinformation. The Rapid Response Unit was established within the Cabinet office to help ensure debates are fact-based. The National Security Commissions Team\u2019s purpose is to tackle communications elements of threats to national security, including (but not limited to) disinformation (Clare Feikert-Ahalt, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In April, 2018, the government of Australia launched a campaign, tagged \u201cStop and Consider\u201d to encourage \u201cvoters to pay attention to the sources of their information in light of the federal elections held in May\u201d.(Funke Daniel, et al, 2018).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Even the French Constitutional Council had worked on a law drafted by President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government which aims at fighting the \u201cmanipulation of information\u201d instead of \u201cfake news\u201d (Alexander Damiano Ricci, 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, as reported by the Education for Justice (E4J of the Doha Declaration and supported by the State of Qatar, 2019) that some scholars have advocated for a more-civil solution to tackling misinformation warfare, which they call \u201cinoculation theory.\u201d This seeks to inoculate individuals against misinformation and disinformation by providing them with the means to build resistance to messaging and propaganda, reducing their susceptibility to misinformation and disinformation, and leading them to question the veracity of the information being presented to them as well as the legitimacy of the source presenting the information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Asides this and just as it has been in Nigeria, E4J (2019) also highlighted media literacy campaigns as part of the solutions to misinformation as it has been launched in other countries like Sweden and Denmark. Some countries have also introduced units dedicated to identifying, collecting and reviewing disinformation and fake news, and alerting the media and general public about it such as the EU East StratCom Task Force (E4J, 2019, making a reference to Morrelli and Archick, 2016).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In the light of the above, this study seeks to take a close look at how the strategies highlighted above play out in the campaign plans and strategies adopted by the National Orientation Agency in Nigeria to engage its online communities in the fight against mis\/disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Social Media Engagement Theory&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Leveraging on the model of Social Media Engagement Theory (SME) developed by Di Gangi et al (2016), this study subscribes to the proposition that an organisation creates a chain of value, experience and benefits when it develops a User-Generated Content (UGC) that resonates with its audience on social media. As Di Gangi et al (2016) hypothesised, the central premise of SME theory is that higher user engagement leads to greater usage of the social media platform. Usage is defined as the frequency of a user\u2019s contribution, retrieval, and\/or exploration of content within a social media site.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The more frequently users take part in a variety of activities, the more valuable the social media platform becomes to the organization and fellow users, resulting in the co-creation of value. Organizations benefit when they leverage UGC to develop new insights, to realize cost savings, to grow brand awareness, and ultimately to generate innovations. Users benefit from the ability to socially interact within the social media platform to fulfill personal needs and interests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The National Orientation Agency of Nigeria is the body tasked with communicating government policy, staying abreast of public opinion, and promoting patriotism, national unity, and development of Nigerian society. It is, therefore, expected that one of the strategies to uptake that campaign by the agency is to develop templates that can target online and social media users who are within the online community of the agency and make its message resonate with them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Several researches have linked the spread of misinformation to the development of communication technology and the accompanying social media platforms (Ziga TURK, 2018). Di Gangi 2016 (quoting (Kaplan &amp; Haenlein, 2010) defines social media as \u201ca group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.\u201d Since the contents created and distributed on social media is susceptible to being pathological, considering the speed of the algorithm, it is the thesis of this study that when online and social media users are effectively engaged in the fight against misinformation, their understanding of how fake-content creators operate will reduce the spread.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, this study&nbsp; provides answers to four basic questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To what extent did the National Orientation Agency (NOA) create valuable content on its social media platform to amplify anti-fake campaigns?<\/li><li>How far have the agency\u2019s messages on misinformation resonated with its online community?<\/li><li>What is the level of NOA\u2019s engagement with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria?&nbsp;<\/li><li>What is the level of engagement by NOA\u2019s public with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Methods<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">This study employs both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. For the quantitative approach, the study developed a template for the tracking of contents posted on the agency\u2019s social media handle, precisely Twitter. The agency boasts 863 followings and 115,000 followers on twitter till date. Based on this, we tracked:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&nbsp;The overall tweets posted by the agency between May and November,&nbsp; 2020;<\/li><li>&nbsp;The frequency of relevant tweets directed at media literacy or fact-checking by the agency within the period;<\/li><li>&nbsp;Number of \u201cretweets\u201d, \u201clikes\u201d, \u201ccomments\u201d and video \u201cviewing\u201d by its online public on media literacy or fact-checking within the period;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">For the qualitative aspect, the study relies on the interview granted to the author by the Director General of the National Orientation Agency via email. The study also incorporates a YouTube interview granted by the DG to @Channel Television on #EndfakeNews which was retrieved from (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YxgDTtJE8AU&amp;feature=youtube)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Results:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q1. To what extent did the National Orientation Agency (NOA) create valuable content on its social media platform to amplify&nbsp; anti-fake campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">A total of 1,621 tweets were posted by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on its twitter handle between May and November, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Of these, 51 tweets (3.15%) were found to be relevant to media literacy and fact-checking on misinformation in Nigeria. In addition, 24 tweets (out of the 51 relevant items) representing 47.06% were authored by the agency while 27 (52.94%) were retweets from other partnering public and civil society sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Table 1. Showing contents created on the agency\u2019s platform<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Overall tweets<\/td><td>Total relevant tweets on media literacy and fact-checking<\/td><td>Total relevant tweets by the agency<\/td><td>Total relevant tweets by others<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1621<\/td><td>51<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>27<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q2. How far have the agency\u2019s messages on misinformation resonated with its online community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Of the 24 relevant tweets authored by the agency, it enjoyed 954 retweets, 266 comments and 1,461 \u201clikes\u201d. While the video post (at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1324344627281989633\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1324344627281989633<\/a>)&nbsp; published on November 5, 2020 generated the highest number of 127 retweets and the highest number of 3.5million views; the one posted on October 31 had the highest number of 179 &#8216;likes and the highest number of 69 comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Table 2. Showing how the agency\u2019s public engaged with its message<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Tweets by NOA<\/td><td>\u201cRetweets\u201d by its online public<\/td><td>\u201cLikes\u201d by its online public<\/td><td>\u201cComments\u201d by its online public<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>24<\/td><td>954<\/td><td>1,461<\/td><td>266<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q.3. What is the level of NOA\u2019s engagement with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Apart from the posts authored by the agency, it retweeted 16 posts from the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), 2 Posts from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 3 from the World Health Organisation (WHO), 3 from Nigeria Health Watch (NHW), 1 from the Presidency, 1 from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and 2 from other individuals.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q.4.<\/strong> <strong>What is the level of engagement by NOA\u2019s public with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While it is commendable that the agency retweeted relevant tweets from other partners, NOA\u2019s online public engaged more with tweets from other partners than its own. For instance, despite that the agency retweeted only one post from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (FMHA) on September 3rd, 2020, that same tweet generated the highest number of 1,500,000 retweets (99.8% of all retweets) by NOA\u2019s online public, followed by the one from NOA with 997 \u201cretweets\u201d (0.7%) while the Presidential aide\u2019s tweet came third with 545 \u201cretweets\u201d (at 0.04%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">On relevant tweets, there were 2,006,125 \u201clikes\u201d within the period. Of these, tweet from presidential aide on new media posted on November 2nd, 2020, generated the highest number of 2 million \u201cLikes\u201d on NOA\u2019s platform (at 99.7% of all \u2018likes\u2019), followed by the one from Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs with 3000 \u201cLikes\u201d (0.15%) while NOA\u2019s tweet came third with 1,544 \u201cLikes\u201d (0.08%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While NOA\u2019s tweets generated 267 comments (23.9% of all \u2018comments\u2019), the post from Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (FMHA) generated the highest number of 444 comments (at 39.7%), followed by the post from presidential aide with 350 comments (31.3%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>(Message\/Content Visualisation)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Only 6 relevant videos used to educate online audiences and to create \u201cfake alerts\u201d were tracked during the period . These came from CDD, NOA, and WHO. The one from NOA had the highest of 3.5million views. The video retweeted from the WHO generated the second highest of 2.7million viewings, followed by 4 videos retweeted from CDD which generated 1,083 views.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Table 3. Showing how the agency\u2019s online public engaged with posts by NOA and other sources&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Other Stakeholders<\/td><td>\u201cRetweets\u201d by NOA\u2019s Public<\/td><td>%<\/td><td>Likes\u201d by NOA\u2019s Public<\/td><td>%<\/td><td>\u201cComments by NOA\u2019s Public<\/td><td>%<\/td><td>No of Video<\/td><td>Video viewing by NOA\u2019s Public<\/td><td>%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>CDD<\/td><td>186<\/td><td>0.01%<\/td><td>232<\/td><td>0.012%<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>2.24%<\/td><td>4<\/td><td>1,083<\/td><td>0.02%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>NCDC<\/td><td>469<\/td><td>0.03%<\/td><td>965<\/td><td>0.05%<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>NOA<\/td><td>997<\/td><td>0.7%<\/td><td>1,544<\/td><td>0.08%<\/td><td>267<\/td><td>23.7%<\/td><td>1<\/td><td>3,700,000<\/td><td>57.8%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>WHO<\/td><td>109<\/td><td>0.01%<\/td><td>329<\/td><td>0.02%<\/td><td>32<\/td><td>2.9%<\/td><td>1<\/td><td>2,700,000<\/td><td>42%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>NHW<\/td><td>35<\/td><td>0.002%<\/td><td>55<\/td><td>0.003%<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Presidency<\/td><td>545<\/td><td>0.04%<\/td><td>2,000,000<\/td><td>99.5%<\/td><td>350<\/td><td>31.3%<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>FMHA<\/td><td>1,500,000<\/td><td>99.2%<\/td><td>3000<\/td><td>0.15%<\/td><td>444<\/td><td>39.7%<\/td><td>&#8211;<\/td><td>&#8211;&nbsp;<\/td><td>&#8211;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total<\/td><td>1502341<\/td><td>100%<\/td><td>2006125<\/td><td>100%<\/td><td>1118<\/td><td>100%<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>6,401,083<\/td><td>100%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/xV7bVVLuvvk2j28wpeGbMZSpyHE2DitYkycowIxMev7GATiJXuvQWDeSXFxONdywxsEmLIcDNmSEjIDhCW_bTq6CVlGW1GZcXVSmAdRIewihOt7Th3oUHdLBlhVAnm-n1Vrj-Qk6\" width=\"576\" height=\"302\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><strong>Figure 1. One of the posts tweeted by NOA, July 11, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How NOA\u2019s Public Engaged with other Posts&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>CDD\u2019s Post<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">16 posts (31.4% of all relevant tweets) were authored by the CDD and retweeted by the agency. These then generated 186 retweets by NOA\u2019s online public, with 25 comments and 232 likes. Of these 16 posts from CDD, there were 4 videos which generated 1083 viewings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/n2_-rXoZhd2I4iwQd6PEY99V1JVZa0mr7i5z9Qp1ptPDmjvv96kL9UV2QRRukjVIXh39-0kSQFldS7xOrcs1IfEBaYIsuPaYXX0y44pfxbwnCViJtkuFdpgzVG4AQ9teGP7wCKUK\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><figcaption>Figure 2. Post from CDD, retweeted by NOA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/xOSMl4rqT1tlwUknF979IxIxpV7eBc3s9Z_YMkDBTZG67G_B8p7K79weCTio1IwsxH_7hBsDYyvnWbNlvhCe8MSgmVVyQc8JvVkAI17uOD6jMq4QBin5s2DOayzm931eAh3uGpUK\" width=\"609\" height=\"321\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"> Figure 3. Post from CDD on June 25, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/hDpm3SuBZ21pYQWhWOC2MP4yJpwABx4LqNsAT6Bd9NaIvXpEgKmNRnc2oBJCoqU4LBRuEhP-50ZADZxeSZsK779HzbVtoAzPvwXIU8KdG6R-CFfxdC9prNU367Yf365klog3-BFi\" width=\"623\" height=\"263\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"> Figure 4. post from CDD on June 29<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Posts from NCDC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">2 tweets (3.9%) authored by the NCDC were retweeted by NOA. This was retweeted in a frequency of 469 times, with 126 comments and 965 likes. No video.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Posts from WHO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The only one relevant post retweeted from WHO was a video. It generated 109 retweets by NOA\u2019s public with 32 comments and 329 likes. The video generated 2.7 million viewings. Extract from the video is in text below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;..<em>.As one who had coordinated<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COVID?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\"><em> #COVID<\/em><\/a><em>-19 response in Lagos with <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/followlasg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>@followlasg<\/em><\/a><em>, it was easy to see what other people pass through&#8230;You can see it\u2019s not a death sentence, listen to experts, stop fake news and<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/stigmatization?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em> #stigmatization<\/em><\/a><em>&#8220;<\/em>&#8211; WHO tweet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(Tweet from WHO and retweeted by NOA on June 6, 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Post from NHW<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">3 tweets from NHW, representing 5.9% of relevant posts were also retweeted by NOA and generated 35 retweets by NOA\u2019s public with 55 likes. No comment. No Video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/VnMZ9Y3sAl42DUVeqZ-hezU880oOLKcgPwCtj3yEczLvgCl3QysIzcgVua2KIy5flFqW8UpYFXROolG4h4NT9CHiLcNfZoQKXIOqZ6jHL9npt5WygmJ9KUtFtnXazrng5-gdb0Xj\" width=\"623\" height=\"249\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Figure 5: Posts from NWH, retweeted by NOA (July 8, 2020)&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Post from FMHA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Only 1 tweet used as media literacy from FMHA, represented 3.7% of relevant posts. It was retweeted by NOA and generated the highest number of 1.5million retweets by NOA\u2019s public with 3000 likes and 444 comments. No Video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Post from Presidential Aide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Another tweet from a presidential aide, Bashir Ahmaad, representing 3.7% of relevant posts was retweeted by NOA and generated the highest number of 2 million \u2018likes\u2019 by NOA\u2019s public with 545 \u2018retweets\u2019 with 350 comments. No Video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As tweeted by @BashirAhmaad:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Do not let your social media posts be the reason for people to take arms<\/em> <em>against each other, stop spreading the fake news for a better Nigeria,<\/em> <em>message from the National Orientation Agency @NOA_Nigeria.<\/em> <em>8:25 AM \u00b7 Nov 2, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>NOA\u2019s Online Engagement: The Director General\u2019s Responses<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the methods of evaluating the Federal Government\u2019s responses to the menace of false information, particularly on social media, this researcher made efforts in reaching the Director General of the National Orientation Agency via e-mail to speak on&nbsp; the campaign plans of the agency and the methods of executing those campaigns in educating Nigerians on the evil of fake information in the public space. The responses are highlighted below in the form of questions and answers. Here, the researcher&#8217;s posers shall be referred to as \u201cQ\u201d while the DG\u2019s responses shall be represented by \u201cAns\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q.The agency says (on its website) it has over 5 engagement platforms it uses to reach Nigerians. What are these platforms?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: The agency reaches Nigerians through a number of platforms. These include the agency\u2019s website (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.noa.gov.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.noa.gov.ng<\/a>), as well as through its e-mail (<a href=\"mailto:admin@noa.gov.ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admin@noa.gov.ng<\/a>). Asides these, the agency also reaches its community through its various social media platforms including Twitter (@NOA_Nigeria), Facebook (National Orientation Agency, Nigeria) and Instagram (noa_nigeria).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. The agency also says it uses 3 major segmentation approaches to do its enlightenment campaigns. What are these approaches?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: The agency carries out its enlightenment campaign in three segmental approaches using the National level, State level and the Local government levels which are often undertaken by the Community Orientation and Mobilisation Officers domiciled in all the 774 LGAs and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. \u201cFake news\u201d has become endemic in Nigeria. What are the campaign plans the agency has or has been running to carry out enlightenment programmes for Nigerians on its danger and negative impact on our democracy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: There are plans which the agency has been exploring to engage Nigerians on various platforms of interaction with a view to bringing to the fore, dangers inherent in the spread of fake news in our society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q.<\/strong> <strong>What have been the approaches adopted to carry out these campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: We have been developing counter narratives using postcards for social media posts, jingles (both audio and video, community engagement, public enlightenment using the Agency\u2019s Public Address Van, holding workshops\/seminar with stakeholders, training of staff on how to identify and respond to fake news as well as preparing questionnaire to get feedback. Also, the Agency regularly organises press conferences to intimate news media on efforts of the Agency regarding fight against fake news and hate messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. How does the agency create contents on the platforms earlier highlighted to engage Nigerians on anti-fake campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans: <\/strong>The Agency generates contents on topical issues of national relevance with a special reference to the feedback mechanism of NOA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q<\/strong>. <strong>Do citizens respond to\/engage with these contents? What are the pieces of evidence that these campaigns or messages on these platforms resonate with citizens?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: Robust citizens\u2019 engagement on our online platforms is an evidence that NOA gets responses from the public. We also conduct e-polling to gauge the pulse of people on topical issues. Feedback mechanism by the PRS department also indicates evidence of engagement with Nigerians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. Are there impacts of these campaigns?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: The Agency has been able to effect a new set of values resulting in attitudinal change of citizens regarding fake news. Sustained campaign against fake news has recorded successes especially on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q<\/strong>.<strong> What have been the noticeable impacts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: Some of the noticeable impacts have been attitudinal change and instilled patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q.<\/strong> <strong>How does the Agency evaluate its impacts on the citizens?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: We do this through e-polling and feedback mechanisms of the Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. Does the agency collaborate with other government and non-government agencies to tackle the scourge of misinformation in Nigeria?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans<\/strong>: Yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q. What are these agencies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans: <\/strong>We collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, FRCN, NTA, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Budgit, Open Government Partnership (OGP) and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Q<\/strong>. <strong>What strategies does the agency use for this collaboration?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ans: <\/strong>Some of our strategies for collaboration include seminars, workshops, sensitisation, community engagement, online engagement and capacity building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Discussions<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">This study shows that while the agency created a considerable number of valuable contents on its platform, there was little evidence of sufficient readiness to up-take campaigns on information disorder on social media. This is evident from the fact that only 3.5% (n=1,461) of the total tweets for the period were relevant to fighting fake information online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">On the question of partnership, there was evidence of cooperation and&nbsp; partnership with other public and civil society stakeholders in the campaign against misinformation online as the agency retweeted valuable contents from its online partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Evidence shows that there was a considerable level of cooperation and partnership with other public and civil society stakeholders in the campaign against misinformation online as the agency retweeted valuable contents from its online partners. This corroborates the responses of the director-general of the agency that it has a robust partnership with other stakeholders, such as the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, FRCN, NTA, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Budgit and Open Government Partnership (OGP).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While evidence shows that only the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria Health Watch (NHW), and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (FMHA) were active on the agency\u2019s online platform as stakeholders fighting misinformation, result from the tracking of the agency\u2019s twitter handle shows that other key ministries and agencies such as Ministry of Information and Culture were either not working on information disorder online or not creating any contents that resonate with the agency\u2019s effort in fighting misinformation on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While this study did not find out if the attitude of the agency\u2019s online audience to its contents was&nbsp; positive or negative, evidence shows that there was a considerable level of engagement with its content by its online community. Although , the director general of the agency observed that the \u201crobust citizens\u2019 engagement on our online platforms is an evidence that NOA gets responses from the public\u2019, result of the tracking of its twitter handle shows that the agency\u2019s online public found contents authored by the agency less valuable and less resonating than contents shared from its partners. As a result, its online public engaged more with posts retweeted from other partners with a range of activities such as \u201clike,\u201d \u201ccomment\u2019 and \u201cshare\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">To show that its online engagement with its audience was considerably low, there is more to be desired considering that the agency\u2019s tweets for the seven-months period generated only 964 retweets despite being followed by 155,000 followers online.&nbsp; Therefore, its claim that it reaches at least 64% Nigerians on its enlightenment campaigns is perhaps, more offline than online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The fact that audience engagement was low also shows that the agency has not really subscribed to the proposition engendered by the Social Media Engagement Theory (SME, Theory) which suggests that \u201can organisation will be creating a chain of value, experience and benefits when it develops a User-Generated Content (UGC) that resonates with its audience on social media. While observation shows that the agency makes spirited efforts to cover many issues of national importance, its efforts at creating media literacy campaigns and publishing fact-checks on its platforms have been grossly inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, it is not clear how the agency creates content on its social media platforms, although the director-general in an interview revealed that \u201cthe agency generates contents on topical issues of national relevance with a special reference to the feedback mechanism of NOA.\u201d Some of these issues of national relevance, as revealed from the tracking exercise adopted for this study, include information disorder around COVID-19, #EndSARS protest, national unity among others. However, the fact that the agency created 24 relevant tweets on media literacy and fact-check (47%) out of the total 51 recorded during the period, shows that it largely depends on other relevant stakeholders to create relevant contents which it retweets for media literacy and fake alert systems.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion and Recommendations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">This study has investigated the level of preparedness and seriousness on the part of the Nigerian government through its ministries and agencies to take its campaign against \u201cfake news\u201d and misinformation to its online and social media community of followers. Deploying the method of social media content analysis of the National Orientation Agency\u2019s twitter handle, the findings of this study show that the federal government, through its agencies has done less to create resonating messages to its online public on anti-fake campaigns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">It is also observed that the agency was more interested in media literacy than fact-checking. All the fact-checks tweeted within the period were posted by its other partners including CDD, WHO, NCDC, National Health Watch (NHW) among others.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Again, this study shows the federal government depends more on civil society and foreign agencies to wage war against misinformation, given that more of the content posted on the agency\u2019s twitter platform on misinformation were authored by other partners operating within the misinformation ecosystem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The merit in this circumstance is underscored by the evidence that federal agencies are open to cooperation and partnership. Yet it is more worrisome that while the Ministry of Information and Culture had identified National Orientation Agency (NOA) as its key partner in the campaign against fake content in Nigeria, no single relevant tweet was found on the agency\u2019s platform as either created by the Information Ministry or tweeted by any of its officials.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">This rather illustrates hypocrisy on the part of the Federal Ministry which has bent more towards social media regulations than education of its citizens against the threat of mis\/disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">By recommendation, more study is imperative to investigate what motivates online community of users to engage with messages created and shared on anti- fake campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<strong>*This study is conducted for the Dubawa Fellowship programme, and is <\/strong><strong>supported by Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation Abuja office.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Adeniran, R. (2020). \u201cCure Myths and False Ratings Lead COVID-19 Fact-Checks in Nigeria, With Governments as Most Targeted Entities\u201d. <a href=\"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/cure-myths-and-false-ratings-lead-covid-19-fact-checks-in-nigeria-with-governments-as-most-targeted-entities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/cure-myths-and-false-ratings-lead-covid-19-fact-checks-in-nigeria-with-governments-as-most-targeted-entities\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Alexander, D.R. (2018). France moves to fight the \u2018manipulation of information\u2019 instead of \u2018fake news\u2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/fact-checking\/2018\/france-moves-to-fight-the-manipulation-of-information-instead-of-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/fact-checking\/2018\/france-moves-to-fight-the-manipulation-of-information-instead-of-fake-news\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">AllAfrica (2020). \u201cNigeria: Coronavirus &#8211; How Nigerian Govt Is Fighting Fake News &#8211; &nbsp; Lai Mohammed\u201d.<a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202004150698.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202004150698.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Di Gangi, P.M &amp; Wasko, M. (2016). \u201cSocial Media Engagement Theory: Exploring the Influence of User Engagement on Social Media Usage\u201d.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/Social_Media_Engagement_Theory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/Social_Media_Engagement_Theory<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Education for Justice (2019). \u201cInformation warfare, disinformation and electoral fraud\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unodc.org\/e4j\/en\/cybercrime\/module-14\/key-issues\/information-warfare--disinformation-and-electoral-fraud.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.unodc.org\/e4j\/en\/cybercrime\/module-14\/key-issues\/information-warfare&#8211;disinformation-and-electoral-fraud.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Feikert-Ahalt, C. (2019). \u201cGovernment Responses to Disinformation on Social Media Platforms: United Kingdom\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/law\/help\/social-media-disinformation\/uk.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/law\/help\/social-media-disinformation\/uk.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Daniel, F., &amp; flamini, D. (2018). \u201cA guide to anti-misinformation actions around the world\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/ifcn\/anti-misinformation-actions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/ifcn\/anti-misinformation-actions\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Okakwu, E. (2018). \u201cNigerian govt launches campaign against \u2018fake news\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premiumtimesng.com\/news\/more-news\/275846-nigerian-govt-%20%20%0d%20%20%20%20%20%20launches-campaign-against-fake-news.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.premiumtimesng.com\/news\/more-news\/275846-nigerian-govt- launches-campaign-against-fake-news.html<\/a> &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Raji, R. (2020). \u201cA Six-year Mapping of Fact-Checks Shows Growing Partnership Between Newsrooms and Fact-Checking Organisations in Nigeria\u201d.<a href=\"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/a-six-year-mapping-of-fact-checks-shows-growing-partnership-between-newsrooms-and-fact-checking-organisations-in-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/a-six-year-mapping-of-fact-checks-shows-growing-partnership-between-newsrooms-and-fact-checking-organisations-in-nigeria\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Being the video by CDD on June 30 and July 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1278440221378576386\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1278440221378576386<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Being the video of Interview granted to the @Channels Television by the DG of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) (\u00b7&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YxgDTtJE8AU&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YxgDTtJE8AU&amp;feature=youtu.be<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Ziga, T. (2018). \u201cTechnology as Enabler of Fake News and a Potential Tool to Combat It\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/IDAN\/2018\/619008\/IPOL_IDA(2018)619008_EN.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/IDAN\/2018\/619008\/IPOL_IDA(2018)619008_EN.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abstract Nigerian government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to the threat of misinformation and disinformation in recent times: Launching public campaigns against fake information, tightening its noose against mainstream media by ways of sanction and heavy fine, and also threatening stiffer social media regulation. In its public campaign approach, it has partnered with the National Orientation Agency (NOA). This study seeks to assess the level of efforts put up by the agency on its social media platform to educate its online public; evaluate how far the agency\u2019s message on misinformation resonates with its online community; assess the level of engagement and partnership with other stakeholders in fighting information disorder in Nigeria.&nbsp; Adopting content analysis and interview as research methods, study shows that while the agency created a considerable number of valuable contents on its platform,&nbsp; little evidence shows sufficient readiness to up-take campaigns on information disorder on social media. Two, there is evidence of cooperation and deliberate partnership with other public and civil society stakeholders in the campaign against misinformation online as the agency retweeted valuable contents from its online partners, yet it relies more on them for its content creation on anti-fake campaigns. Lastly, the agency\u2019s online public found the contents authored by it less valuable and less resonating than contents shared from its partners. As a result, its online public engaged more with posts retweeted from other partners. The study concludes that while the federal government is bent on regulating social media and sanctioning abuse of the media, it abrogates its duty by depending more on civil society and foreign agencies to educate and enlighten citizens on the danger of misinformation on democracy and national unity. By recommendation, more study is imperative to investigate what motivates online communities of users to engage with messages created and shared on anti- fake campaigns. Introduction: &nbsp;&nbsp; In July 2018 and April 2020, the Nigerian government launched a \u201cpublic campaign against fake news\u201d (Premium Times, 2018) and also launched \u201ccampaigns to media houses and cooperation with Facebook and Google\u201d (AllAfrica, 2020). The overall objective was to create media literacy among Nigerians, particularly young people who are highly active online and social media. According to the minister of information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the campaign against fake news \u201cwas linked to the possible effects of rumours towards the escalation of related crisis across the country\u201d and that the campaign would include active collaboration with digital as well as traditional media and the National Orientation Agency to educate Nigerians on the effect of fake news on Nigeria\u2019s democracy and its corporate existence as a nation.&nbsp; The foregoing was sequel to concerns being raised over the capacity of social media and technology companies to control the kind of contents being trafficked on their platforms (Ray Walsh, 2o20). This is in the face of several partnerships at the instance of technology companies, particularly Facebook and Twitter, with fact-checking organisations to help verify viral claims making the round in the public space and flag down anyone suspected to be deliberate purveyors of misleading information.&nbsp; Stakeholders have concluded that disinformation and misinformation are very dangerous to the society and democracy, even though UNESCO has said \u201cdisinformation is particularly dangerous because it is frequently organised, well resourced, and reinforced by automated technology\u201d (UNESCO 2018). Recent study shows government officials, politicians, and electoral candidates are more culpable&nbsp; in spreading false information (Raheemat, 2020, Raji, 2020). It is quite commendable that some countries of the World are coming up with policies and legislation to tackle the spread of false information in the public space and, in some cases, exploring these measures to gag free speech (Funke Daniel, 2018).&nbsp; Nigerian government, while it is also threatening policies and legislation to regulate the social media, has adopted media&nbsp; public education, partnering with the National Orientation Agency (NOA).&nbsp; Leveraging on the latter measure, this study seeks to understand how the agency has engaged its online community to achieve the desired goal as highlighted by the government. The study thereby tracked the content created on the agency\u2019s twitter handle within a period of seven months (May-November, 2020) to assess the efforts of the Federal agency in up-taking the campaign to educate Nigerians on the effect of fake news and create media literacy campaigns for social media and online users.&nbsp; The objectives of this study are: To assess the level of efforts by the agency on its social media platform to educate its online users; To evaluate how far the agency\u2019s message on misinformation resonate with its online community; To assess the level of engagement and partnership with other stakeholders fighting information disorder in Nigeria.&nbsp;&nbsp; This study is justified for a number of reasons. First, it leverages the proposed involvement of the National Orientation Agency by the Ministry of Information and Culture to support its anti-misinformation campaign in Nigeria.&nbsp; Second, the study chooses to interrogate the extent of the partnership between Nigeria\u2019s ministry of education and technology giants in relation to mitigating the spread of disinformation and misinformation. Third, the period covered in this study (May -November, 2020) is chosen to assess how the agency has taken the campaign to its online public after a couple of months following the minister\u2019s statement in April 2020. Third, the twitter handle of the agency is chosen in evaluating the National Orientation agency because its Director General stated in an interview with this researcher that it is one of the engagement platforms which it uses to reach Nigerians online. Information gathered from the agency\u2019s website shows that: The agency boasts of over 5000 staff spanning across 36 states of the federation including the FCT and the 774 local Government Offices. It claims to have over 15 engagement platforms tailored to reach the highest number of Nigerians using its major segmentation approaches. It claims it has reached over 64% of Nigerian citizens. It also claims no other organ of government has this kind of spread and capacity for public enlightenment and sensitization campaigns. 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