Nigerian youths urged to reject hate speech and fake news ahead of 2027 elections

As Nigeria approaches the 2027 general elections, the Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, has issued a strong call to action for Nigerian youth. He urges them to actively reject hate speech, misinformation, and intolerance, emphasizing their crucial role in maintaining national peace and stability during the electoral period.

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So what this initiative does, basically, is to bring these over 80-plus participants, who are actually with us, for two, three months and the Coppers who are here for about eight, nine months to actually build their capacity in understanding the connection between policy, what the government is doing, and how the government is pursuing them, so they can have a better appreciation of what the government is doing, so they can be in a better, enlightening position, you know, to have a genuine, constructive conversation.

Ochogwu's message was delivered at a two-day training program in Abuja, organized by the IPCR. The initiative targets young Nigerians, including members of the National Youth Service Corps, Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme participants, interns, and volunteers under the Renewed Hope Agenda for Young Peacebuilders. The program is designed to equip over 80 participants with essential skills in conflict management, leadership, and fact-checking. The goal is to empower them to become active contributors to peace and national development, moving beyond passive beneficiaries of peacebuilding efforts.

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We’re also training them on basic leadership skills, basic conflict management skills. We’re also going to teach them issues around misinformation, disinformation, mal-information, for them to be able to fact-check information, because the election is coming, so they need to be up and running with facts and be able to pay influence to their colleagues in the institutions of learning and all that.

The training also aims to expose participants to the growing threats of misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information, particularly relevant in the context of upcoming elections. "We're also training them on basic leadership skills, basic conflict management skills. We're also going to teach them issues around misinformation, disinformation, mal-information, for them to be able to fact-check information," Ochogwu stated. He stressed the importance of young people being well-informed and capable of influencing their peers positively within their institutions.

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And I discovered there is a disconnect between our institutions of learning and what the government is doing and when you find students who read international relations and don’t know that the federal government is running a 4D foreign policy doctrine, then there is a problem. When you find somebody who is reading economics and doesn’t understand that the government have a priority agenda within which it is pursuing, then there is a problem.

Ochogwu highlighted that the IPCR initiative stemmed from observations of a significant gap between what is taught in educational institutions and the realities of government policies and actions. "I discovered there is a disconnect between our institutions of learning and what the government is doing," he explained. He cited examples of students in international relations unaware of foreign policy doctrines or economics students lacking understanding of government economic agendas. The IPCR seeks to bridge this gap, fostering a better appreciation of government initiatives and enabling more informed, constructive public discourse. The program encourages young Nigerians to leverage their influence positively, building bridges across ethnic, religious, and political divides to safeguard the nation's unity.

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If we follow the kind of divisive politicisation that is going on in our society, we really might lose this team and nobody is going to wait for us. No country is going to wait for us. We have to build Nige