FCT-SEB Urges Students to Verify Online Information Amid AI, Misinformation Concerns

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory Secondary Education Board (FCT-SEB) has urged students to develop the habit of reading deeply, thinking critically and verifying information before sharing it, amid growing concerns over misinformation and the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI).

The board gave the charge on Monday in Abuja at an essay and spelling bee competition organised by Sahara Deck and Zero Meridian Decks of the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) for students of FCT secondary schools. 

Representing the Acting Secretary/Director of the FCT-SEB, Mrs. Elizabeth Godwin, at the event, Mrs. Theresa Onuora-Oguno said the theme of the competition, ‘Read. Think, Verify: Building Critical Information Literacy in the Digital Age,’ was timely given the volume of information available to young people through digital platforms.

She said students had “unlimited knowledge” on their phones but were also exposed to falsehood, misinformation and distorted narratives, noting that information could spread rapidly through platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok.

According to her, students must be encouraged to cultivate deep reading rather than “shallow scrolling” and should be taught to distinguish between fact and opinion while considering the motive behind information they encounter.

She added that verification had become particularly important in an era of AI-generated images and cloned voices, urging students to verify information before sharing or commenting on it.

Onuora-Oguno said mastering the three principles of reading, thinking and verifying would help students become not only information-literate but also responsible citizens capable of discerning truth from falsehood.

She said the competition was therefore not merely about winning prizes, but about developing young Nigerians who could critically assess information and avoid being used to spread misinformation, ethnic hatred, religious panic and false narratives.

Speaking on the competition, the Second Mate (Chief Programmes Officer) of Sahara Deck, Aloy Atsenokhai, said the initiative was organised as part of activities marking World Literacy Day to encourage students to write, think critically and develop their speaking and writing abilities.

Atsenokhai said 15 students from three schools, with five students from each school, participated in the essay competition.

He explained that the organisers did not select the individual students, but informed the participating schools about the competition and allowed the schools to select students to write the essays.

According to him, the submitted essays were subsequently forwarded to an assessor for evaluation.

He identified compliance with the competition guidelines, language, technology and the use of AI as some of the challenges encountered during the exercise.

“Some of the students simply downloaded content from the internet, and that was one of the major challenges we faced,” he said.

Atsenokhai urged stakeholders to use World Literacy Day as an opportunity to encourage students to write on critical issues, while also encouraging them to produce their work independently rather than relying on AI and other online sources.

He said Sahara Deck and Zero Meridian Decks, both chapters of the National Association of Seadogs, planned to make the competition an annual event.

The competition offered N100,000 for the first prize, N75,000 for the second prize and N50,000 for the third prize.

The winner, Eze Ugochi Vivian, a student of Government Secondary School, Jabi, said she found the essay topic interesting because it addressed the way people consume information online.

Vivian, whose essay was titled :Read. Think, Verify: Building Critical Information Literacy in the Digital Age,’ said the competition required participants to submit typed essays of between 500 and 1,000 words.

“Most times, when people come across content, either online or physical content, they just read the captions or headlines and assume they know the full story,” she said.

“So, this topic teaches them how to read, analyse and also verify the sources of information.”

The student also urged organisations to organise more programmes around issues that were often overlooked, particularly those that could educate students and encourage them to take important societal issues seriously.