Communication specialists have urged Nigerian organisations to arrange for deepfakes and AI-driven misinformation earlier than a disaster happens, by updating their disaster plans, setting guidelines for their very own use of AI and constructing robust, credible reputations.
They spoke at a webinar titled ‘Safeguarding Brand Reputation in Nigeria’s AI Era: Preparing Organisations for Deepfakes, Synthetic Media and AI-Driven Misinformation,’ organised by MSc Media and Communication college students of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University.
Held on Microsoft Teams on Friday, September 25, 2026, the session drew 107 individuals.
In her keynote, Scaling Data and Tech Innovation Specialist, Adenike Aloba, stated: “AI has changed the conditions in which reputation is managed more than it has changed the fundamentals of reputation management.”
She urged communicators to be concerned at any time when their organisations deploy AI, saying they “should be in the room at conception, not at crisis”, and warned: “You cannot outsource your brand strategy to AI.”
The panel featured CEO of Xlr8 Limited and pioneer Head of Public Relations at MTN Nigeria, Calixthus Okoruwa; General Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter, Samuel Adeyemi; Divisional Director at Marketing Edge, Anietie Udoh; Group Head, Marketing and Communications at CapitalSage Holdings, Ilabeshi Gabriel; and Dr Oludare Ogunyombo of the Department of Mass Communication, Olabisi Onabanjo University. The session was moderated by Bemigho Awala.
Dr Ogunyombo summed up the problem: “Nothing has changed, but a lot has been added.” Okoruwa stated AI makes a disaster administration framework “even more necessary, even more pertinent,” whereas Gabriel described how his organisation governs its AI use: “We will not say we won’t use it, but we need to know the limitations and guide against it.”
In a dwell disaster simulation, ‘The Deepfake Drill,’ the panel managed a fictional faux video of a financial institution’s managing director asserting withdrawal limits.
Their key suggestions have been that Nigerian organisations ought to add deepfake eventualities to their disaster plans and rehearse them recurrently, and type a cross-functional response workforce earlier than any disaster happens.
When a faux seems, they suggested organisations to evaluate its attain and hurt earlier than responding, as a result of “speed does not mean panic”.
They ought to then debunk it shortly and maintain reassuring stakeholders for weeks afterwards, as a result of “trust is not a feeling, it is a process”.
The panel additionally urged organisations to set clear insurance policies on how workers use AI instruments and deal with delicate knowledge.
Speaking on behalf of the organising workforce, Ololade Adeniji stated: “We can’t stop people from faking things, but we can always be ready.”
