Nigerians have shown a marginal increase in trust levels overall but continue to distrust their political leaders, according to findings from the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer: Nigeria Report<\/strong>. The report, unveiled on the evening of April 16 at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Lagos<\/strong>, reveals that trust in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses, and media<\/strong> remains higher than in government institutions. Surprisingly, Nigerians trust artificial intelligence (AI) more than other Africans<\/strong>, despite expressing deep skepticism towards CEOs.<\/p>\n
The event was organised by THOP \u2013 The Holding Opinion and Public<\/strong>, led by Kwame Senou<\/strong>, and featured a keynote address by Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, fnipr, fapra, MACCE, MIIC<\/strong>, Head of Media Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)<\/strong>. Dr. Ibietan stood in for Arik Karani<\/strong>, President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), and shared insights on the nation\u2019s evolving trust dynamics.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2024, trust stood at 61 percent; in 2025, it has increased marginally,\u201d Dr. Ibietan noted. \u201cHowever, seven in ten Nigerians still believe their leaders lie<\/strong>, and the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, fueling a sense of injustice.\u201d The report highlights a growing income-based trust gap<\/strong>, with a majority of Nigerians believing that the wealthy disproportionately benefit from national resources. Notably, one in two respondents believe that hostile activism, including social media campaigns, can drive meaningful change<\/strong>.<\/p>\n One of the most striking findings came from Wandile Cindi<\/strong>, Edelman’s senior strategist from South Africa, who presented the 2025 report titled: \u201cTRUST, AND THE CRISIS OF GRIEVANCE.\u201d<\/em> He observed that Nigerians show greater trust in AI<\/strong> than their African counterparts. Cindi speculated that this trust might be linked to Nigeria\u2019s impressive roster of unicorn startups such as Interswitch, OPay, Moniepoint, Flutterwave, and Andela<\/strong>, all of which are valued at over $1 billion.<\/p>\n The report, now in its eighth year of Nigerian coverage, is part of a global study spanning 28 countries<\/strong>, with Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa<\/strong> representing Africa. It focuses on trust across four institutions: government, business, media, and NGOs<\/strong>. Among these, NGOs and media rank highest in public trust<\/strong>, while the government ranks lowest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Nigerians and Kenyans remain more optimistic about the future<\/strong> compared to South Africans, despite the challenges highlighted in the report.<\/p>\n The Edelman Trust Barometer continues to serve as a critical barometer of public sentiment and institutional trust worldwide, shining a light on the shifting perceptions that define civic and corporate life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigerians have shown a marginal increase in trust levels overall but continue to distrust their political leaders, according to findings from the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer: Nigeria Report. The report, unveiled on the evening of April 16 at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, reveals that trust in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses, and media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,366,301,65,76,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-economy","category-events","category-featured","category-government","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28047,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28042\/revisions\/28047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techandbiz.com.ng\/tab-backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n