The European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Gautier Mignot, has warned that foreign information manipulation is becoming a growing threat to democratic institutions and public stability, urging journalists to strengthen their professional standards in the face of increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
Speaking in Abuja on Monday at a one-day workshop on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference organised for members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Mignot said disinformation was steadily eroding public confidence in governance and the media.
“False information, in whatever guise and for whatever motive, harms society. It compromises the integrity of the media, undermines trust in public institutions, and weakens people’s capacity to make informed decisions on issues that affect them.
“The consequences become more dire when misleading information is deliberately crafted with an intent to deceive and pushed into the public space to unsuspecting helpless citizenry,” he told participants.
The ambassador said journalists, who serve as gatekeepers of public knowledge, are increasingly being targeted by those seeking to manipulate information.
“Journalists are multipliers in the information value-chain: they control what passes through the media channels into the public space. It is not surprising, therefore, that they can also be frontline targets of FIMI,” he said.
He noted that new digital tools now make it easier to fabricate texts, images, and videos, complicating efforts to distinguish between genuine and doctored content.
“Technologies have made communication easier and faster. But their uncanny ability to falsify or even recreate realities has also enhanced the ease and rapidity of producing and spreading deceptive content both online and offline, which is more and more difficult to distinguish from original content,” he said.
Mignot cited a July 2024 European Parliament report showing that 85 per cent of people around the world are worried about the impact of disinformation, while 38 per cent of EU citizens regard misleading information as a threat to democracy.
He added that Nigeria is also grappling with the challenge, referencing a 2020 report by the Centre for Democracy and Development.
“The volume of disinformation now circulating in Nigeria is unprecedented and has further exacerbated pre-existing ethnic and religious tensions that predate the internet.” The report pointed to what it described as Nigeria’s “big, strong, unimaginatively creative, but invisible rumour mill,” the envoy cited.
Despite these concerns, he said the disinformation crisis presents an opportunity for traditional media to reassert its credibility—if journalists prioritise accuracy over sensationalism.
“Media must remain reliable; they must be fact-checkers and make sure, in particular, that the research for the scoop does not beat the research for the truth,” he said.
Mignot noted that online disinformation often spills into mainstream media, blurring the boundaries between social media content and professional reporting.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to draw a distinct line between content that is shared on social media and information reported or broadcast by print media, radio, and television,” he said.
According to him, the spread of anti-democratic narratives in West Africa is partly driven by deliberate information manipulation.
“The growing glamorisation of anti-democratic forces as superheroes, in opposition to democratic values, is a sad pointer to the damage information manipulation is causing in West Africa,” he said.
He outlined EU-supported initiatives aimed at strengthening media literacy and combating disinformation in Nigeria.
These include collaborations with fact-checking organisations like Dubawa, training programmes for editors, and opportunities for Nigerian journalists to participate in media-literacy programmes in Europe, including “a visit to the war-ravaged Ukraine for first-hand reportage.”
Explaining why DICAN members were selected for the workshop, he said, “As field reporters, you are first-line purveyors of public information. As diplomatic and foreign affairs correspondents, you stand at the intersecting point between your country and the outside world. You are our closest partners in Nigeria’s media community.”
He added that DICAN had shown commitment to combating disinformation. “This is why the EU is glad to have been able to respond positively to your request for a capacity-building session on this problematic issue.”
Mignot expressed optimism that the training would strengthen journalistic integrity and help safeguard Nigeria’s democratic space. “It is my hope that you will find this training useful, and that it will add value to your professional portfolio and make you more effective as you discharge your critical responsibility to your society and the world at large,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Sebastian Babaud of the Strategic Communication Division, European External Action Service in Brussels, described FIMI as “a pattern of behaviour threatening values, interests, political processes, and international partnerships. It aims to threaten our values, interests, role as a global actor, partnerships with states and societies globally.”
Babaud said elections had become “testing grounds for new forms for IM patterns in terms of production and amplification of content,” warning that disinformation posed risks to both national and global security.
“FIMI and disinformation can hurt national and global security, which needs to be addressed with proportional responses,” he said.
Babaud added, “To tackle FIMI, it is essential to cooperate with the other players in the defender community.”
Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference have emerged as a significant global concern over the past decade, driven largely by the rapid expansion of digital technologies and the ease with which malign actors can disseminate misleading content.
Governments, multilateral institutions, and research organisations have documented how state-linked and non-state groups use coordinated campaigns to undermine democratic processes, polarise societies, and weaken trust in traditional media.
The European Union began formally identifying and responding to FIMI activities in 2015 through initiatives such as the EUvsDisinfo project, which tracks coordinated disinformation originating from foreign sources. Since then, the EU has expanded its policy framework to help member states and partner countries strengthen resilience against cross-border manipulation efforts.
Nigeria has been recognised as one of the countries in West Africa most exposed to politically charged misinformation and foreign-influenced narratives, partly because of its large online population and diverse socio-political landscape.
Studies by organisations such as the Centre for Democracy and Development and the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies have shown that false or manipulated information often exploits longstanding ethnic, religious, and regional divisions.
During electoral cycles from the 2015 presidential election to the 2023 polls, researchers observed spikes in fabricated stories, doctored videos, and coordinated online campaigns aimed at shaping political perceptions. Analysts note that these trends mirror patterns seen globally, where domestic actors and foreign entities alike exploit digital platforms to influence political discourse.
The EU and Nigeria have collaborated for years on strengthening democratic governance, media freedom, and electoral integrity, making the fight against disinformation a growing area of cooperation. Through its Delegation in Abuja, the EU has funded programmes to improve fact-checking capacity, support investigative journalism, and enhance digital literacy among young people and media professionals.
Partnerships with Nigerian organisations such as Dubawa, Nigerian Guild of Editors, among others form part of a broader strategy to counter harmful information ecosystems.
