ABUJA, Nigeria, 28 September 2026. The President of the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, today concluded a strategic working visit to the National Library of Nigeria in Abuja. The visit was hosted by the National Librarian and Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria, Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi.

The working session finalised the modalities of a strategic partnership between the two institutions under Anchored in Evidence: Digital Voices for a Stable Society, a professional programme that places the nation’s foremost repository of knowledge at the centre of Nigeria’s digital conversation.

The programme

Le programme

Anchored in Evidence is a three-week, fully online professional training programme, fully sponsored by UNESCO REF under its Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS). Its pilot cohort will comprise 600 young Nigerians drawn from all six geopolitical zones of the Federation.

The programme equips bloggers, digital content creators and online journalists with three core capacities:

• Evidence-based digital communication. The discipline of verifying claims before publishing them.
• Responsible national imaging. Communicating about Nigeria accurately, fairly and with a sense of public responsibility.
• The Library as primary source. The habit of consulting the National Library of Nigeria for empirical fact, rather than relying on unverified social media trends.

The working session

La séance de travail

Discussions between Prince Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan and Prof. Anunobi covered four areas:

1. The partnership framework between UNESCO REF and the National Library of Nigeria.
2. Modalities for the identification, mobilisation and enrolment of participants.
3. The pilot region strategy for the initial cohort of 600 trainees.
4. The media awareness plan to secure the visibility and credibility of the programme launch.

Prince Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan emphasised that the programme requires no financial commitment from the National Library of Nigeria, as it is fully funded by UNESCO REF. He noted that the collaboration will equip young Nigerians with critical digital skills while reinforcing the Library’s role as a trusted custodian of knowledge and fact in the digital age.

Prof. Anunobi welcomed the partnership, highlighting its alignment with the Library’s ongoing digital transformation agenda and with its mission to serve as Nigeria’s foremost repository of credible information.

The visit concluded with mutual agreement on the importance of institutional synergy in addressing misinformation and in promoting a culture of responsible communication.

Why it matters

Les enjeux

The programme responds to a challenge that is now recognised as global. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 ranked misinformation and disinformation as the most severe global risk over the next two years, for the second consecutive year.

Those who shape the digital conversation are often the least equipped to verify it. A 2024 UNESCO survey of digital content creators, published as Behind the Screens, found that 62 per cent do not systematically verify information before sharing it. The same study found strong demand for training: more than 9,000 creators enrolled in the free course UNESCO launched in response.

Anchored in Evidence answers that demand in Nigeria, one of the youngest populations in the world, by pairing digital creators with an institution whose statutory mandate is to collect, preserve and make available the nation’s recorded knowledge.

Next steps

Prochaines étapes

With the modalities agreed, the two institutions will proceed to the identification, mobilisation and enrolment of the pilot cohort and to the media awareness campaign for the launch. The pilot cohort of 600 participants will serve as the model for future expansion, demonstrating the contribution of evidence-based digital voices to national stability.

ENDS