In the digital age, the battle for truth is often fought in the shadows of the internet, far beyond the reach of mainstream English-language news outlets. Alhassan Bala, the visionary founder of Alkalanci (The Arbiter), has brought this urgent issue to the forefront, championing the necessity of fact-checking in Nigeria’s indigenous languages. Recently, during a specialized training program in Abuja hosted by the Embassy of Spain in partnership with Casa África and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Bala emphasized that if we truly want to protect the integrity of our democratic processes, we must bridge the linguistic gap where disinformation thrives.
The core of the problem lies in the reach of local dialects. Nigeria is a linguistic tapestry with over 250 languages; for the vast majority of citizens, these are the tongues in which they think, feel, and process information. When misinformation is disseminated in these languages, it travels with frightening speed through community groups and local media channels. Because existing AI moderation tools and most dedicated fact-checking organizations primarily focus on English, a massive, vulnerable segment of the population is left exposed to political manipulation, rumors, and false narratives that go completely unmonitored by the digital watchdogs meant to protect them.
Bala points out a critical vulnerability: disinformation in local languages is designed to feel intimate and authentic. It often arrives through the voices of familiar community figures or through broadcast narrations that are far harder to track, archive, or flag than written English text. Because these messages carry the weight of perceived personal or communal credibility, they bypass the healthy skepticism a reader might apply to a formal news report. This makes local-language misinformation not just a technological challenge, but a direct threat to the trust that serves as the bedrock of our democratic institutions.
To counter this, the initiative led by Bala advocates for a radical shift in how we approach media literacy and verification. It is no longer enough to train journalists solely in English; we must invest in the capacity of fact-checkers who are fluent in the nuance of indigenous languages. By democratizing the tools of verification, we can empower communities to recognize that just because a message is delivered in their own language—or by someone they recognize—it does not automatically grant it the status of truth. This is a vital step toward creating a balanced information ecosystem where the truth is as accessible as the lies.
Echoing this sentiment, Eva Barta Martin, the Cultural Adviser at the Spanish Embassy, highlighted that information is the lifeblood of any democracy. She argued that the responsibility of countering disinformation cannot fall on a handful of individuals alone. Instead, it requires a robust, collaborative effort between international partners, civil society organizations, and local journalists. For democracy to flourish, citizens need more than just the right to vote; they need access to reliable, verified, and transparent information that allows them to participate in the democratic process with their eyes wide open.
Ultimately, the goal is to shift the power dynamic back into the hands of an informed public. As we look toward future elections, the challenge remains significant, but the path forward is clear: success requires moving beyond the “English-only” barrier to engage with the reality of how Nigerians genuinely consume information. By strengthening the capacity of native-language fact-checkers and fostering deeper media literacy at the community level, we can defend the integrity of our democratic processes and ensure that truth, rather than tactical disinformation, remains the cornerstone of our national conversation.