Editorial Policy
Last updated: 27 September 2026.
This sets out the standards we hold ourselves to. If we fall short of them, tell us.
Sourcing
We work in a clear order of preference:
- Primary official sources — legislation, gazettes, court judgments, agency circulars, and statistics published by the body that produced them.
- Reputable secondary reporting — established Nigerian and international news organisations, and specialist legal or policy analysis.
- Everything else — used only where nothing better exists, and labelled as such.
Every article lists its sources with links.
Verification
Before a figure is published we try to trace it to the body that produced it. A number that appears only in aggregator sites, content farms or social media is not published as fact.
Where two credible sources disagree, we publish both with their dates and labels rather than picking one. Our cholera article does this, because NCDC's suspected-case figure and ECDC's confirmed-case figure are measuring different things.
Where we cannot verify something at all, we say so in the article. We do not fill gaps with plausible-sounding estimates.
Dating
Every article shows the date its facts were checked. Where a subject moves quickly — exchange rates, fuel prices, outbreak figures — the article carries a note at the top saying so.
We do not quietly update figures inside an old article and leave the original date. If the substance changes, the modified date changes with it.
Contested subjects
On subjects where reasonable people disagree — state police, anti–open grazing laws, the minimum wage, the almajiri system — we:
- set out what the law or the data actually says;
- present the strongest version of each side's argument, not a weak one chosen to be knocked down;
- say where the evidence is thin, including where it is thin for a position we find sympathetic;
- refrain from telling readers what to conclude.
Reporting on conflict
Our security coverage follows three rules:
- We do not attribute violence to ethnic or religious groups. We describe documented drivers, name organisations where they are identified in research, and cite the source.
- We use published casualty figures with their source, date and basis, and we do not extrapolate from one period to another.
- We do not publish operational detail that could assist an attack, and we do not identify individuals in a way that could put them at risk.
Health coverage
We describe how systems work and what published data shows. We do not diagnose, and we do not give treatment advice. Every health article directs readers to a health facility for anything concerning them personally.
Where an official clinical document could not be verified — as with the national immunisation schedule — we say so and decline to publish rather than reproduce an unverified version.
Advertising and independence
Advertising is served by third-party networks. We do not select individual advertisements.
No advertiser has any influence over what we publish. We do not take payment for coverage. We do not publish sponsored content presented as editorial. If we ever publish anything commercially arranged, it will be clearly labelled as such.
Use of AI tools
We use AI tools in research and drafting. Every published article is checked against its sources by a person before publication, and the editorial desk is responsible for what appears. Tools do not remove accountability.
Corrections
We correct errors promptly and say what changed. See Corrections.