Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity, Garba
\nShehu, Sunday in Abuja warned that leaving the social media to operate
\nwithout regulation could result in more lawlessness, violence and
\ndeaths, explaining that the Federal Government is not against free
\nspeech.<\/p>\n
The Presidential aide, who spoke at the Kawararafa Media Award, said the
\nemerging modern media platform had played a strong role in promoting
\ninformation sharing, strengthening democracy, and building networks of
\nrelationships, but without supervision or control, the nation risks more
\nhavoc.<\/p>\n
Shehu was chairman of the award ceremony organized by Kwararafa
\nReporters, a news magazine.<\/p>\n
“For instance, the entire Kasuwan Magani saga that resulted in the death
\nof more than 50 people was because someone posted misleading information
\non WhatsApp that went viral.<\/p>\n
“All countries in the world are trying to make laws to check the
\nexcesses. Many countries are trying to control the situation. The
\nEuropeans have placed a new law that holds the companies responsible.<\/p>\n
“In United Kingdom, the parliament has received a report on social
\nmedia. There is a youth addiction to it, just like cigarettes. Without
\nany form of control, it has done harm to women, ethnic minorities,
\nindividuals, institutions and countries,” he said.<\/p>\n
Shehu said the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had
\nconsistently called for a meeting of stakeholders to agree on modalities
\nfor regulating the social media, but was rebuffed.<\/p>\n
“The federal government is saying that stakeholders should come
\ntogether and agree on regulation. We know that no matter how bad the
\nsituation it favours someone.<\/p>\n
“Some have argued that our constitution already has laws in libel, but
\nthe laws of the ’60s never anticipated social media.<\/p>\n
“No government has the right to muzzle freedom of speech. We don’t
\nsupport the taking of lives as punishment.\u00a0 People insult others and
\nshare false information on social media. I hope that hate speech will be
\ntackled so that Nigeria will be a sane place to live in,” he added.<\/p>\n
The Senior Special Assistant noted that in every part of the world
\njournalists go through some form of training, accreditation and
\nlicensing before plying their trade, like doctors, but “with a phone, a
\ntablet or laptop anyone can reach millions, sometimes for good and other
\ntimes with ulterior motives.”<\/p>\n
Shehu said hate speech preceded the social media, but it was traceable
\nthrough the media platform and controlled, explaining that the social
\nmedia, while emerging, portends a great force, and needs to be regulated
\nfor safety and peaceful co-existence.<\/p>\n
The Chief Executive Officer of Kwararafa Reporters, Emmanuel Bello, said
\nthe publication was non-political, and it rewards politicians, public
\nservants, business executives and individuals with distinguished record
\nof service to the nation.<\/p>\n
The Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina
\nand Shehu were honoured with “Media Excellence of the Year”.<\/p>\n
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, Sunday in Abuja warned that leaving the social media to operate without regulation could result in more lawlessness, violence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n