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  "path": "/2026/02/15/wikipedia25-in-lafia-linking-knowledge-empowering-communities-in-north-central-nigeria/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-15T11:00:00.000Z",
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  "textContent": "\n\nOn **16 January 2026** , members of the Wikimedia community, students, and open knowledge advocates came together in **Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria** , to celebrate **25 years of Wikipedia** as part of the global **Wikipedia@25** campaign.\n\nThe event combined celebration with hands-on learning, focusing on strengthening the connection between Wikipedia and Wikidata while improving references and data quality.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n### **Celebrating 25 Years of Free Knowledge**\n\nThe event opened with a brief ceremonial session to mark Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary. Participants reflected on Wikipedia’s impact in expanding access to free knowledge and the importance of local communities in sustaining the Wikimedia movement.\n\nA birthday group photos, and informal conversations helped create a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere, setting the tone for the day’s activities.\n\n\n\n### Strengthening Wikipedia–Wikidata Connections\n\nFollowing the celebration, participants took part in a practical workshop on linking Wikipedia articles with their corresponding Wikidata items. Using tools such as **Duplicity** , editors identified missing or incorrect article–item links and worked collaboratively to fix them.\n\nThe session highlighted how structured data improves content reliability, discoverability, and multilingual access across Wikimedia projects.\n\n* * *\n\n### Improving References and Article Quality\n\nA guided editing sprint using **Citation Hunt** focused on improving article credibility by identifying missing citations and cleaning up references. Both new and experienced editors made contributions, strengthening articles related to local and national topics.\n\nThe sprint demonstrated how small, focused edits can significantly improve the quality and trustworthiness of Wikipedia content.\n\n* * *\n\n### Community Reflections and Looking Ahead\n\nThe event concluded with a group discussion on the future of Wikipedia in Nigeria, particularly in North Central regions. Participants shared ideas on onboarding new editors, supporting local-language contributions, and using Wikidata to enhance the visibility of underrepresented knowledge.\n\n**Wikipedia@25 in Lafia** showed that celebrating milestones can go hand in hand with building skills, strengthening community bonds, and contributing meaningfully to the global Wikimedia ecosystem.\n\n* * *\n\n\n\n### Acknowledgements\n\nThis event was organized as part of the global **Wikipedia@25** celebrations with support from the Wikimedia Foundation. Special thanks go to all participants, volunteers, and Wikimedia community members whose contributions made the celebration impactful and memorable.",
  "title": "Wikipedia@25 in Lafia: Linking Knowledge, Empowering Communities in\nNorth Central Nigeria"
}