THE CENTRE for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has issued a strong rebuttal against recent calls by a high-ranking senator for the regulation of social media in Nigeria, labelling it a “scapegoating” tactic for governmental failures.
CITAD was responding to remarks made last Thursday by Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, while he was presenting nomination forms to Governor Biodun Oyebanji in Ado-Ekiti. Bamidele asserted that social media represents a “growing threat to the peace of Nigeria” and called for its regulation.
In a press statement released Saturday morning, CITAD’s Executive Director, Y.Z. Ya’u, argued that such calls are not isolated incidents but a growing mindset within government.
He highlighted a recent report by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) documenting over 141 incidents of attacks on journalists under the current administration as evidence of a heightened clampdown on freedom of expression.
“Coming from a high-ranking senator and against the background of heightened clampdown on freedom of expression online, as exemplified by the recent report by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) which documented over 141 incidents of attacks on journalists under the current regime, such a call must not be taken as accidental statement. It is part of the growing mindset within government that clamours for the derogation freedom of expression online,” Ya’u stated.
The organisation firmly contested the senator’s premise, stating that the nation’s high levels of insecurity and communal violence are not products of social media, rather, it is should be attributed to the causes rooted in “injustice, poverty, unemployment and the inability of the government to decisively address the numerous communal conflicts across the country.”
Ya’u also noted: “Nowhere in the world has reality shown that social media is responsible for the lack of peace,” arguing further that social media often serves as a vital platform for expressing grievances and has been used effectively in other nations as a tool for restoring peace.
He urged the government to focus on “rethinking its policies, which are generating poverty, unemployment, misery and hopelessness,” rather than seeking to regulate online speech.
He characterised access to social media as a “fundamental right of citizens” and a foundational requirement for a functioning democracy, stating that “social media regulation is a euphemism to curtail the right of expression.”
Ya’u appealed to Senator Bamidele to “retrace his path” and leverage his background as a respected social justice activist to instead demand that the government address “hunger, joblessness, insecurity, and social injustice.”
