A report by the International Press Centre (IPC) has revealed that fintechs and banks are the most targeted for disinformation and misinformation.
IPC’s Deputy Director, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, made this known while presenting the ‘Report of Trends Dis/Misinformation Around Business Firms in Nigeria.’
The event held on Wednesday in Lagos.
The presentation is the second organised for a group, Private Sector Coalition on Disinformation, on the findings on disinformation assessment in Nigeria.
“Sixteen articles were monitored or fact-checked for fake news or disinformation for this report.
“Also, we noticed in this summary that fake news makers continue to improve on their strategies, leveraging the economic crisis, especially by way of fake loans and grants.
“We noticed in our summary that fintech and banking institutions maintain the status of being the biggest targets: they constitute about 68.3 per cent, “ he said.
Arogundade expressed worry that the banking sector remained the major target, saying this could cause panic and disruptions in the system.
He, therefore, called on the appropriate bodies to pay more attention to tackling the challenge.
He urged journalists to make issues surrounding disinformation and misinformation an integral part of their reporting.
According to him, more of such reports will enlighten the people.
“We have had this report and talked about institutions being targeted. Journalists can then go to these institutions and find out from them what has been the effect on their businesses and what they are doing about it.
“The more we do those kinds of reports, the more we will be enlightening the people, “ Arogundade said.
In her remarks, Mrs Olubunmi Osuntuyi, Secretary-General, International Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria, urged members of the Private Sector Coalition on Disinformation, not to relent in discussing issues around disinformation and misinformation.
“We will be working as a team to ensure that, in our own little way, we bring about sanity into the Nigerian economic space.
“Also, we are hoping that we will muster much strength to counter the various tactics of the perpetrators.
“Even if we have to look at what other climes are doing. International best practices can be brought to bear.
“Legislations can be put in place; there are people who have been sent to jail by using things like this,“ Osuntuyi said. (NAN)
