The executive secretary of Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Dr. Dili Ezughah, has tasked journalists to always be mindful of national security while using Artificial intelligence and in their reportage, saying it could “destabilise the country’s polity and spread falsehoods.”
Ezughah stated this Saturday at a 2025 World Press Day organised by the Nigerian Press Council in Abuja with the theme: “Navigating the AI Frontier: Strengthening Press Freedom in Nigeria’s Digital Transformation”
Blueprint reports that the event brought together key stakeholders from government, media, technology, academia, and civil society organisations
“Consumers of the creation of the movie industry or the AI, sometimes they wonder if what they are receiving or consuming is true. That’s how powerful both instruments are, the movie industry and the AI.
“However, we can utilize this tool for good in journalism; We can now edit faster, we can code information faster, use AI to ascertain the veracity of any information and narrative.
“We can do that very quickly and accurately. The dangers is that, AI can be use to destabilise the politics, to lie and create falsehood; the choice is ours.
“Only recently, a friend sent me an anecdote. It says, now that your medical students are passing their exams with AI, you better begin to eat well, exercise well and begin to do the right things.
“I want to urge the print media to employ AI positively, because it has the potential to take away even our freedom as journalists. It has the potential to limit our voices and narrow us down to one narrative,” Ezughah said.
In a lecture titled: “Ethical Consideration for AI in Nigerian journalism,” the chairman Ethics Artificial Intelligence and Strategy Project Team, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu state, Prof. Ani, urged tasked journalists not to jeopardise national security in their reportage.
“Any journalistic content that jeopardized national security, national unity, undermines national security.
“Journalists must operate with social conscience because there is a community you are serving. Democracy is about fostering social trust. If you destroy social trust , you are destroying the community.”
He said although AI is good, it must be managed with responsibility.
“Artificial Intelligence is meant to augment human intelligence, not to replace it,” he said.
Also speaking, Governor of Bauchi state Bala Mohammed, admonished journalists to be professional in their reportage and avoid ethnic and religious biases.
He said: “As professionals we hold the mirror for society to see itself. We must make sure we imbibe the value of the profession that is noble. We should be able to do things above board rising above ethnicity and tribalism.
“The press is the only herbinger of good governance and must be able to do it in a way that we tolerate ourselves.
“We must make sure that there is freedom for the minorities, freedom for the opposition and freedom for everyone in the society including women and the youth.”
The governor called on the federal government to be more tolerant to the opposition and minorities.
He said it is only by doing so that they would be able to come up with policies that will impact on the lives of the people.
“Since we came on board we tried to make our media houses better than we met them, we have incarcerated anybody,” he said.