THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has expressed willingness to partner with the Code for Africa to build the capacity of journalists to combat fake news and to report data effectively.

Code for Africa is a federation of indigenous civic technology and civic media labs in nine African countries operating alongside a sister network of independent investigative newsrooms in 22 countries.

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale gave the assurance at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among the organisations on Wednesday in Abuja.

“We see this partnership as a perfect complement to our efforts at informing policymakers and citizens of Nigeria’s socio-economic conditions through timely, accurate and reliable statistical information.

“In this era of social media misinformation, I am also very confident that this partnership will in its own unique way, make a significant contribution toward addressing the emerging threat of fake news which often uses fake data.

“It will also help our youthful, tech-savvy population become better informed, by providing actionable data via friendly interactive forum for an action- oriented generation,’’ he said.

Kale, however, said the MoU with Code for Africa/Code for Nigeria would cover two main programmes: data collection and dissemination as well as statistical capacity building.

“For the data collection and dissemination programme, two projects are identified: Air Quality data (SENSORS. AFRICA) and Data Visualisation (HURUMP) .

“The first supports is on the collection, analysis and archiving of air quality data through a network of air quality sensors across Nigeria (and Africa), using the SENSORS. AFRICA online platform.

“Data from this project will facilitate advanced statistical analysis and can be combined with other demographic, socio-economic indicators to offer public insights into the impacts of air quality and atmospheric/climatic trends across the country.

“The second supports the use of data within NBS portal to generate high-profile editorial and innovative visualisation products to boost public interaction and re-use of NBS data using HURUMAP platform,” he said.

According to him, for statistical capacity building programme, both organisations aim to jointly offer training sessions for media houses to better understand statistical findings and effectively convey same to the public.

Kale said the NBS had engaged media houses as part of its data dissemination and public advocacy strategy while Code for Africa had also been engaging in building the capacity of journalists.

The Statistician- General said Code for Africa had been working with community of more than 600 journalists across various newsrooms, including NAN.

“The joint effort will, however, afford the opportunity to utilise trainers from NBS and leverage technology tools provided for Africa to access a wider pool of journalists with a broader national/international audience,’’ he said.

Also speaking, Mrs Nkechi Coker, the Country Manager, Code for Nigeria commended the NBS for timely release of data and its supports for journalists.

“We are comfortable with all that you have said and the key points you have highlighted in the MoU.

“You have highlighted combating fake news, helping to improve policy making and building the capacity of journalists on data reporting,’’ Coker said.

The Country Manager said the organisation had identified the huge gap in stories written by journalists in Africa and had discovered the gap in data reporting.

She said that Code for Africa/Nigeria had decided to build the capacity of journalists to understand data, indicators and to combat fake news.

“NAN is our first partner in Nigeria and we have been with the organisation for two year, we are glad that the agency has been building the capacity of its journalists on data journalism.

“We have also extended our partnership to other media organisations such as Punch, Guardian, the Cable, Daily Trust and Lagos State University as well as Pan African University , Lagos,’’ the official said.

In addition, Coker said partnership with media organisations and universities would help to build the capacity of young and working journalists to help inform citizens on understanding data. (NAN)

– Jan. 30, 2019 @ 15:49 GMT |