ABUJA, Nigeria — Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has warned that the rapid proliferation of digital propaganda and coordinated information manipulation has transformed into a critical threat to global stability, declaring the fight for information integrity a vital democratic imperative.
Speaking at a landmark international conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Dr. Jonathan represented by the Executive Director of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Ann Iyonu, stated that modern democracies are increasingly besieged by sophisticated, foreign-backed disinformation campaigns designed to exploit societal fractures. The former president’s warning was delivered as top diplomats, intelligence officials, and trade administrators gathered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to map out a unified front against what experts are calling the “industrialization of deception”.
The summit served as a focal point for deep regional anxieties, with the host organisation, the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (DICAN), revealing that over 70% of foreign information manipulation campaigns now deploy high-fidelity Generative AI to fabricate deepfake diplomatic crises and simulate market volatility. The DICAN Chairman, Fred Idehai noted that these campaigns cost the global economy an estimated $100bn (£79bn) annually, heavily disrupting regional trade blocs and straining long-standing alliances across the African continent.
A Multilateral Pushback
To transition from rhetoric to direct action, conference organizers officially launched a national and international campaign against foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). Working alongside the Centre for Communication Development and Diplomacy in Africa (CCDDA) and PR Nigeria, the initiative has successfully mobilized 69 non-governmental organizations across all 36 states of Nigeria.
The new framework introduces a structured, defensive network to police the digital space:
- Regional Situation Rooms: Six dedicated operations centres have been established across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones to monitor, verify, and dismantle trending fake news and manipulated multimedia.
- National Fact-Checking Consortium: The network has codified into the Nigeria Fact-Check & Information Integrity Network (NFIIN) to promote digital responsibility and restore eroding public trust.
- Future Global Outlook: Security coordinators announced that the 2027 iteration of the international conference will permanently expand its monitoring lens to track how weaponized disinformation directly fuels human trafficking and irregular migration corridors.
Economic Dividends Amid Information Security
The correlation between a secure information ecosystem and economic prosperity was heavily underscored by Nigeria’s trade administrators. Nonye Ayeni, the Executive Director and CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), revealed that a stable, transparent communication environment has been foundational to the country’s historic non-oil economic breakthrough.
Mrs. Ayeni announced that Nigeria recorded a historic $6.1bn (£4.8bn) in non-oil export value in 2025—an 11.5% surge from the previous year and the highest performance in the council’s history. Crucially, value-added processed products climbed to 51% of total exports, signaling a critical structural shift away from primary commodities toward industrial manufacturing. The NEPC chief emphasized that sustaining this momentum requires robust economic diplomacy and real-time market intelligence sharing to protect Nigerian products accessing markets in over 120 countries from predatory trade disinformation and non-tariff barriers.
The Geopolitical Front
The conference also spotlighted the shifting dynamics of global alliances, particularly Nigeria’s deepening ties with Beijing as the two nations mark the 55th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. Representing the Chinese Embassy, Minister Zhou Hongyou lauded the Nigerian press corps for maintaining objective reporting on sensitive geopolitical matters, explicitly pointing to the sensitive Taiwan question.
Minister Zhou reiterated the joint declaration signed during President Bola Tinubu’s 2024 state visit to Beijing, affirming Nigeria’s strict adherence to the One-China principle and its opposition to any form of Taiwanese independence. Highlighting Beijing’s proactive counter-measures against information gaps, the diplomat revealed that China had granted zero-tariff market access to all 53 African nations with diplomatic ties starting 1 May, while simultaneously flying nearly 20 major Nigerian media executives to China this month for advanced digital reporting and international communication training.
As the summit concluded with Awards of Excellence presented to Dr. Jonathan and other distinguished global leaders, the consensus among delegates was clear: cross-border security can no longer be protected by physical borders alone.
In an era of cognitive warfare, the survival of democratic institutions requires an instantaneous, seamless synergy between the analytical depth of state intelligence, the strategic reach of international diplomacy, and the unyielding integrity of the independent media.
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