A Professor of Information Management and Management Information Systems at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Mustapha Momoh, has warned individuals and organisations against the dangers of information overload, urging them to develop the capacity to distinguish credible and useful information from misinformation and noise.
Momoh gave the warning on Thursday, September 24, 2026, while delivering the university’s 43rd Inaugural Lecture at its Conference Centre in Abuja.
The lecture, titled “Managing Information Sources, Utilisation and the Need to Know,” examined the growing challenges associated with the generation, management, interpretation and use of information in the digital age.
According to the professor, society has moved from an era of information scarcity to one of information overload, making the central challenge no longer simply how to obtain information, but how to determine what to trust, how to interpret it, when to use it and who should receive it.
He drew a distinction between being “information-rich” and being “information-wise,” warning that access to vast amounts of information does not automatically translate into better decisions.
“Information is a vital resource,” Momoh said, stressing its importance to decision-making, goal attainment and organisational performance.
He, however, noted that the unprecedented access to information in the digital age had created fresh challenges, including misinformation, disinformation and the difficulty of separating credible sources from unreliable content.
Momoh urged individuals and organisations to strengthen their ability to identify useful information and filter out irrelevant content, warning that poor information management could result in the familiar “garbage in, garbage out” outcome.
He described information as one of humanity’s three major resources, alongside materials and energy, linking the resources to the Green Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Information Revolution.
The professor also challenged his audience to reflect on what could emerge as the next major global revolution.
Explaining the role of information in decision-making, Momoh said strategic information guides long-term planning and policy, while tactical information assists managers in resource allocation and control. Operational information, he added, supports day-to-day activities.
For information to be useful, he said, it must be relevant, accurate, complete, timely and credible, while also being clear, appropriate to the decision at hand and communicated to the right person.
Momoh also distinguished between raw data and information, explaining that data becomes useful when it is properly organised, interpreted and understood.
Using optical illusions to demonstrate his point, he illustrated how perception could sometimes be mistaken for reality, underscoring the need for careful evaluation before information is accepted and acted upon.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Uduma Oji Uduma, congratulated Momoh on the academic milestone and commended his contribution to the intellectual development of the university.
Uduma urged academic staff and doctoral students to attend inaugural lectures regularly, describing them as opportunities to learn from the research journeys and contributions of established scholars rather than merely ceremonial events.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Professor Chiedu Mafiana, thanked participants and commended Momoh for what he described as an enlightening presentation.
Mafiana said the lecture reinforced the responsibility of academics and institutions to generate, preserve, evaluate and share knowledge responsibly.
Momoh expressed appreciation to the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, and members of the university community for their presence and support at the lecture.
