Former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central district at the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has disclosed why President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is trying to regulate social media.
The Herald earlier reported that minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has said the federal government was working on regulating social media.
Sani speaking on the development said Buhari’s government plan to regulate social media is not to checkmate hate speech but to stifle freedom of speech by Nigerians.
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On his Twitter page, he wrote: “The efforts to regulate social media is not primarily about checkmating fake news, hate speeches or defamation, but majorly about stifling freedom of speech and expression and the right to question power and hold it to account.”
Meanwhile, The Herald reported that federal government said it had commenced the process of injecting sanity into the Social Media space to prevent it from setting the nation on fire.
The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja. “As a matter of fact, we have already put in motion the machinery for this. We have written letters to the major stakeholders who would nominate representatives and we are going to sit down together to decide on how best to confront this menace,’’ he said.
The minister noted that the government had the responsibility to keep the country together, therefore, social media would not be left alone to destabilise the nation.
He said the government welcomed the debate that had followed the decision and announcement to sanitise the social media space and the airwaves.
“We are glad about the criticism because what we set out to achieve is to bring the matter to the front burner of discourse. We are not under any illusion that the people will take this hook line and sinker.
“We are, however, glad that there are more people who believed that the social media poses imminent danger to the unity of Nigeri, especially as they have become merchants of fake news and hate speech,” he said.
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