NIGERIA'S DEMOCRACY IN THE ERA OF FAKE NEWS.

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Saeed kamalu Bako

Nigeria is no doubt a Democratic state where every citizen have the right and freedom as exercised in other advanced democracies. Significant among these freedoms are the freedom of the press and that of expression as enshrined in the constitution. It is indeed a wise saying that a society without the means of acquiring information is but a prologue to a farce or perhaps a tragic one.

As a result of the rapid advancement in technology, everybody has become a creator of communication content. This advancement combined with the freedom of expression and that of the press has so far posed a great problem by opening doors for fake news which seems to be a threat to the existence of Nigerian democracy.

According to a Polls carried out in 2018 by NOIPolls, 66 percent of the respondents indicated that fake news is very prevalent in Nigeria. This research however was carried out when Nigerian democracy is at the stage of dilemma. This in essence shows that the proliferation of fake news into the present information sphere has caused a great havoc to the existence of democracy in Nigeria.



From its infancy up to the present generation, the problems associated with Nigeria is one way or the other linked to the prevalence of fake news in the media sphere. Consequently, things like hatred, violence in all part of the country, tension among citizens all happens as a result receiving misleading information from different Media ranging from social media, word of mouth, the internet and sometimes conventional media.

Therefore, fake news have in one way or the other hindered the free flow of democracy as there is need for people to live in unity and a society devoid of tension and hatred for every democracy to prosper.

On different occasions, through the incessant copy and paste or sharing syndrome, people have succeeded in forwarding information to many people without verifying the real source or without knowing the genuineness of the received information. The coming of social media aided by web 2.0 in this sense contributed and is still contributing much in the spread of fake news which consequently poses a threat to the existence of our democracy.

Word of mouth on the other hand is seen as the most credible medium of communication. It has also succeeded in promoting rumour mongering and the spread of fake news. To add to the flaming fire, people who lack media knowledge always belief in information as far a it comes from the internet without any verification. This has opened  way for people to engage in the kind of politics that destroys our democracy. The opposition have succeeded in falsifying any development by the ruling party while the ruling succeeded in programming all sort of propaganda in a quest to appeal to the subconscious minds of the vulnerable.

In view of this menace, there is need to curb the prevalence of fake news to foster Nigerian democracy. How then can we curb the spread of fake news in the quest of saving Nigerian democracy from collapsing? There are indeed many ways to stop the spreading of fake news but as the result of the aforementioned, government need to sensitize the public on the dangers of rumour mongering and the spread of fake news to the Nation, they further need to promote professionalism among journalist in both the social media and conventional ones as this will make only the people with media literacy to venture into the field. Lastly, there is also need for good governance as it is the bedrock of the existence of every democracy of which Nigeria is not exceptional. Nigerian democracy indeed have the chance to survive even in the era of fake news.

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