FG to Convene Stakeholders’ Meeting on Social Media Regulation

* Malami charges Nigerians to use social media to promote unity

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said his ministry will this month convene a stakeholders’ meeting as part of efforts to design a framework for the sanitisation of the social media.

This is coming as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, on Monday charged Nigerians to use the opportunities provided by the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in promoting unity and national integration.

Mohammed stated this in Abuja yesterday when he received the

Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, and the Ambassador of Innovation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Finland, Mr. Jarmo

Sareva, who were on an advocacy visit to promote the ideals of the Freedom Online Coalition.

He said the government’s response to the irresponsible use of the social media to promote fake news and hate speech by some unscrupulous individuals is to work with stakeholders to device a mechanism to sanitize the social media, without stifling press freedom or infringing on the rights of individuals.

“Our attempt to sanitise the social media is not at all an attempt to stifle the media and I want to make this very clear…. As we speak today, we will be meeting later in the month with leaders of the media, civil society, security and other stakeholders on how to sanitise our social media and make it safe for all.

“We, especially in this ministry, have watched with some trepidation the social media front and we have seen how some people try to abuse this platform to cause disaffection, especially by pushing fake news and hate speech,” Mohammed said.

He said the government remains overwhelmingly committed to the protection of human rights, both offline and online, noting, however, that it will not shy away from ensuring that Nigeria has a responsibly

free media.

In his remarks, the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Pulkkinen,

acknowledged that the minister has a broad understanding of the issues

surrounding the misuse of the social media, particularly in relation

to the credibility of information on the platform, and urged Nigeria

to partner with global bodies like the Freedom Online Coalition in

order to address some of the challenges posed by the social media.

Meanwhile, Malami has charged Nigerians to use the opportunities provided by the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in promoting unity and national integration.

The AGF who made the charge at AIT News Townhall Meeting on hate

speech and media regulation bills held in Abuja maintaining that “we need the social media more in the areas of enhancing national unity, patriotism, human capacity development, including entrepreneurial skills, and not for tearing the nation apart”.

Represented by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr. Umar Gwandu, the minister noted that the emergence and proliferation of ICT tools has come with both positive and negatives implications.

“With the absence of gatekeeping process of the conventional media, individuals with neither the skills of information verification and no clues of what the reality is, take it upon themselves to be the purveyors of fake news, hatred and animosity.

Some turned the platforms into avenues for committing heinous internet fraud and cybercrimes”.

Malami decried that the rate at which the vituperation of acrimony and vilifying statements dominate the social media space is alarming, saying that the consequences of which could be dangerous, adding that, “No society will fold its arms to allow such ominous trend to go

unchecked.

“It is the role played by the conventional media which at all times is expected to be targeted at good governance, national integration and rnlightenment of the society for the better that distinguishes the mainstream media from the predator miscreants that are bent on creating global information disorder characterized by misinformation, mal-information, disinformation and hate speeches; the natural consequence of which is societal disorder that blows ill-wind to the detriment of all,” he said.