By CHINYERE Nnaemeka 
Following the forth coming Governorship election in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi States, A leading Media Development and Press Freedom Organization dedicated to building media capacities for democracy and development; International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos-Nigeria, with support from United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) have held a 2-day capacity building workshop for Journalists based in Imo State.
The training session which was centered on Fact-checking, and the use of iVerify Platform, took place on Thursday 2nd, and Friday 3rd of November, 2023, at Echelon Hotel Suite in Rivers State, and had over 20 Journalists from both print, broadcast, and online platforms, present to participate in the workshop.
Giving the keynote address, the IPC Programme Manager, Stella Nwofia disclosed that the workshop was the last of the three trainings designed for 80 journalists from the broadcast, print, and online media who are involved in reporting electoral processes across the three states where off-cycle polls would be held come November 11, 2023.
Nwofia pointed out that IPC decided to embark on the workshop as the concern about information integrity has always been at its core interventions and engagements to promote good journalism.
She further talked about the iVerify Platform, stating that IPC believes that the introduction and launch of the platform in Nigeria shall not only serve as a veritable tool for verifying information and checking facts, but can also prevent the spread of disinformation and misinformation, which can lead to electoral violence. 
Taking the newsmen through, "The Dangers of information Disorder or Fake News to Peace Building and Conflict", was the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Director, Conflict Prevention Management and Resolution, Dr. Emmanuel Mamman.
Saying among others that fake news, sows mistrust, and jeopardizes reconciliation efforts that seeks to craft pathways to peace and shared prosperity among conflicting communities, Mamman pointed out that the simplest means of tackling it, is by not sharing fake news until you verify the claims.
Speaking on, "The Art of Questioning in Journalism and Being Detective of Misinformation", Director of Journalism Clinic, Mr. Taiwo Obe, who took the Journalists through practical examples of the topic, averred that the business of journalism is to find answers to questions and to question those answers until there are no further questions to be asked.
Obe who stressed on the need to always provide hard core evidence of a story or claim, pointed out that every Journalists owe their audience the responsibility of providing the final answers.
He therefore advised newsmen to let the Journalist in them (art of questioning) arise whenever they come across a story, especially on the social media.
Lecturing on, "Fact-checking of Information to Promote Electoral Integrity (part 1 and 2), was Mr. David Ajikobi, Editor Africa Check.
Ajikobi talked about checkable and not checkable facts, pointing out that facts backed up by evidences, can be checked or verified, while opinions (subjective), and claims about the future cannot be checked.
He gave the Africa Check's 5-Steps Fact-checking Processes which was summarized in - ask yourself if the fact is cheakable or not, identify the original source and verify content of the fact,  verify the evidence using the latest reliable data, ask the experts related to the claims in the report, set out your evidences, and finally give your verdict.
Ajikobi further educated the participants on the use of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT); an intelligence produced by collecting and analysing public information with the purpose of answering a specific intelligence question.
The Executive Director of IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, who introduced the iVerify Platform averred that the iVerify is a fact-checking initiative of the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria, supported by the United Nations Development Programme; and in collaboration with Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ICPR), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).   
Arogundade pointed out that iVerify fact-checks information, provides citizens with verified news on multi-channels including social media platforms, discourages sharing of unverified information, curbs the spread of false news and helps to sanitise the information space.    
The training session was all participatory as the newsmen were given the opportunity to ask questions, and were also shared into groups for group works, which representative from each group presented.