Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C TY Buratai Block, Abuja. The only presentation for the day was made by the Subject Experts on Eastern Europe.
The weekly presentation by Brig Gen Ak Egwuagu (Rtd) subject experts on Eastern Europe centered his presentation on how Prince of Propaganda Feeds Western Media with lies. A journalist simply referred to as ‘The Prince of Propaganda’ has been reported to be feeding the Western media’s hunger for lies about Russia, as the mysterious hacker manages to churn out thousands of fake news stories about Russia, yet no one seem to know who he is (Vadim Zagorenko, 2024). Will Stewart is said to be one of the most productive British journalists who might be one of the most widely published hacks in the history of the trade, as each year, hundreds of his articles are published in major publications, although most of his work is an attempt to incite fear and hatred. 2019 study showed that only 2% of all items published about Russia in Western media were positive, leaving 98% as either negative or deemed neutral, although the most impressive fact however, is that a single man, Will Stewart, who has apparently worked in Russia since 1993, was behind many of them.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen AK Egwuagu (Rtd) pointed out that, in today’s world, the speed at which information including misinformation and disinformation flows is unprecedented as a result of new media technologies on one hand and the activities of citizen journalists on the other hand which in most cases. Nigeria is faced with a similar situation in which as a result of the social media awareness and freedom of expression, tends to turn almost all Nigerians into citizen journalist, creating, posting and sharing genuine and fake stories and images that have led to religious and ethnic crisis in the country. In 2017, a major insistence of fake news that dominated Nigeria’s social media space was the rumoured death of President Muhammadu Buhari shortly after he began a health leave to the United Kingdom on Jan 19, 2017 also in 2023, a social media report claimed that the son of Rivers State Governor, Barr Nyesom Wike was shot dead in the United States of America over his activities in general elections in Nigeria, which turned out to be fake news (The Cable, March 2, 2023).
He recommended that NOA should intermittently sensitize the public on the dangers of creating as well as sharing of fake news in the society, using the social media, religious houses and the Nollywood industry to properly enlighten the populace and also the DSS and Nigeria Police should carry out regular vetting of all religious preachers and ensure they are properly licenced to operate in the country.
