Kashifu Inuwa: False News Now Travels Faster Than Facts, Threatening National Stability
Kashifu Inuwa: False News Now Travels Faster Than Facts, Threatening National Stability
Kashifu Inuwa: False News Now Travels Faster Than Facts, Threatening National Stability
Nigeria’s digital landscape is evolving at a pace never seen before — and with it, the threats that shape national security and public trust. This reality took centre stage in Abuja as the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, addressed participants at the National Symposium on Digital Innovation in Crisis Communication.
Invited by the Centre for Crisis Communication, Inuwa warned that the information space has become a battlefield where falsehoods spread faster than truth. Research, he noted, shows that fake news travels nearly six times quicker than verified facts — a phenomenon already responsible for major disruptions across the world.
Nigeria has not been spared. Inuwa cited recent local incidents where misleading posts sparked widespread panic and economic losses in mere minutes, highlighting the urgent need for a system that can verify information in real time and prevent escalation before it harms the nation.
He also revealed the scale of the fight being waged behind the scenes. Over the past year alone, more than 28 million fraudulent accounts connected to Nigerian digital activity were shut down by global tech giants. Tens of millions of harmful posts were also removed across platforms like Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn — a sign that collaborative monitoring is beginning to yield results.
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But despite the progress, the NITDA DG stressed that these victories are only the beginning. Nigeria, he said, must strengthen its crisis-communication architecture, build stronger local review standards, and invest in tools that can detect harmful content in real time. He underscored the importance of balancing security with privacy, insisting that national safety must never come at the cost of citizens’ rights.
For Inuwa, the path forward is clear: Nigeria must create a digital ecosystem where truth travels just as fast as falsehood — and where technology supports stability rather than chaos.
As he concluded, one message stood out: in today’s world, information can save lives or destroy them. And the responsibility to protect the nation’s peace now begins online.
Kashifu Inuwa: False News Now Travels Faster Than Facts, Threatening National Stability
