Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said that the controversial
Anti-Social Media Bill will no longer see the light of the day at the
Senate.
The “Frivolous Petition Bill” popularly known as the Anti Social Media
Bill sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn N’Allah representing Kebbi South in the
National Assembly for seeking to gag the social media space.
The Senate President said he is committed to an inclusive and open
National Assembly where all stakeholders views are respected.
Speaking at the event, Saraki emphasised the growing influence of social
media users in Nigeria’s political environment, and encouraged the
audience to continue contributing to the development of Nigeria through
their dialogue and debate on social media.
The Senate President stated that:“Without the involvement of social media,
there is no way that we would have moved from a non-performing government
— because now everything is out in the open unlike years ago.”
Saraki went on to commend the online community, calling them the real
‘Chairmen of INEC,’ citing that their crowdsourced election results from
polling stations during the general elections, ensured that the
manipulation of vote counts was kept to the barest minimum.
“Though we had the numbers,” Saraki said, “It is really thanks to social
media that votes counted because you shared the results as they happened.”
The Senate President also announced that the controversial aspects of the
‘Frivolous Petition Bill,’ which is the section 4 of the Anti-frivolous
petition Bill now popularly known as ‘Anti-Social Media Bill’ would not
see the light of day at the Senate.
Saraki went on to assure the audience at #SMWLagos that in the next few
weeks, the calls for an Open National Assembly (#OpenNASS) would be
actualised, and Nigerians would get to see the line-item allocations of
the National Assembly.
The Senate President called for continued cooperation and conversation
between the government and the public via social media, and mentioned that
following the recent National Assembly Interactive Session with Civil
Society Organisations (CSOs) called #NASSEngages, starting in 2017, CSOs
would be a part of the budget hearing process.
The Senate President who is the 1st public official in office to
personally attend social media week which is in its 4th year assured
participant that his presence at the event shows how serious National
Assembly takes social media