Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has charged staff of the Commission to be wary of fake news, and not fall into trap of being conveyors of fake news.
Magu made the charge through Chidinma Amanambu, Head, EFCC’s Media Academy, on February 4, 2019 at a sensitization workshop organised by the Academy for staff of the EFCC Maiduguri Zonal Office.
In a paper titled, “How to Spot and Manage Fake News”, she informed staff to be abreast with the current trends in disseminating fake news through various platforms, especially Whatsapp and Facebook.
“In view of the ways fake news trends, and its threat to co-existence, the Commission as a leading anti-corruption agency deemed it necessary to train its staff on how to detect and manage fake news,” she said.
Explaining further, she intimated participants of the launch of www.fackchecknigeria.com
Nigeria’s version of the AmericanFactcheck.org, which was created by Nigerian News publishers to enable Nigerians check the authenticity of any news.
In his remark, Lawrence Iwodi, Zonal Head, Maiduguri Office, enjoined staff to take the issue of fake news seriously, as it was a global threat, which the international community was also fashioning ways to combat.