European Union Holds Resilience Training To Tackle Foreign Information Manipulation, Interference
By Lynn Adda
For two days, Journalists and members of civil society groups gathered at the Irish Embassy, European Union Crescent, Off Constitution Avenue Central Business District Abuja to address issues concerning Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, FIMI and its negative impact on societies.
Experts in the area drilled the participants on Quizzes and introduction to FIMI analysis, terminologies and definitions, Methodologies and FIMI and sources investigation techniques.
They were also exposed to ABCDE and DISARM approaches applied to FIMI incidents analysis, exchange sessions on Nigerian information ecosystem, FIMI and open sources, culminating in practical cases.
The participants were drawn from Borno, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Taraba States.
Zissimos Vergo, Deputy Head of European Union Delegation to Nigeria who is also the Head of Political, Press and Information Section, presented certificates to the participants.
He commended them for their resilience and dedication to the training, charging them join the against Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, FIMI to ensure a just and free society.
Zissimos Vergo,
After the presentation of certificates to the FIMI trainees who are now expected to step down the knowledge and become Ambassadors in the fight against disinformation, attention shifted to the residence of the Danish Ambassador to Nigeria for a Panel Discussion on Partnership to strengthen the societies against FIMI.
The Panelists included Francesco Carboni, Team Leader of the Foreign Policy Instruments, FPI, Regional Team for West Africa and Lake Chad at the European Commission, Alhassan Bala, Founder of Alkalanci, the pioneer Hausa Fact-checking platform and Alkasim Abdulkadir, Special Assistant to Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs on Media and Communications.
Speaking at the event, the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Gautier Mignot, revealed that the training was organised in collaboration with EU member states, targeting northern Nigeria due to the rising threat of disinformation, describing it as a danger to democracy, stability, and security.
According to him, disinformation campaigns were often designed to incite hatred, fuel rejection, and create rifts between nations, stressing that such manipulations must be detected and debunked without undermining freedom of expression.
“This phenomenon is not anecdotal; it is serious because those behind it aim to destabilise democracies, create divisions, and incite hostility,” he noted.
The Ambassador announced that the workshop drew about 125 participants, half of whom were journalists and students, while the rest comprised CSOs, officials, and diplomats.
To the participants, he said they are expected to pass down the training to their peers to build a wider network of resilience against disinformation across Nigeria.
In his remarks , the Head of Disinformation Analysis Centre, debunk.org, Viktoras Dauksas, noted that disinformation was increasingly being used by authoritarian actors to manipulate citizens and destabilise countries, reminding Journalists that they play a critical role in safeguarding democracy.
“Our goal is to help journalists and analysts spot systematic campaigns, report accurately, and inform citizens to prevent manipulation,”.
