Editors Caution FG On Moves To Regulate Social Media

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has called on the Federal Government to rescind its decision to regulate the Social Media, saying that such measure contravenes Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution (As amended), which guarantees every Nigerian citizen the right to “freedom of expression, including the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.” 

The Guild of Editors in a communique by its Standing Committee after its meeting in Ikeja, Lagos and signed by its Acting President,  Mustapha Isah and General Secretary, Mary Atolagbe, reminded the Federal Government of the dire consequences of similar attempts in the past to gag freedom of speech, noting that such initiatives were usually misconstrued by security agents and some public officials to harass, arrest and in most cases, illegally detain journalists and other Nigerians for holding their opinions.

ILO commends Buhari over minimum wage Advising the Federal Government to seek ways to maximise social media to disseminate information on the activities and policies of government, rather than its current attempt to stifle it.

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The Guild urged the government to engage the founders and promoters of social media, namely: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter among others – to creatively find ways of sieving information disseminated through their respective channels, to curtail extremism of violence and hate speech.

Recognising that Recognising that Nigeria is already in the red zone of nations with a very poor record of Press Freedom and Freedom of Speech, the Guild notes, “for instance, that the 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders places Nigeria in a distant 120th position among 180 nations under review.

“Also, in the 2019 Global Impunity Index published by the Committee for protecting Journalists (CPJ), which chronicles countries where criminal groups, politicians, government officials, and other powerful actors resort to violence to silence critical views, dissent and particularly the media, Nigeria ranks as high as the 12th position, sharing the top bracket with impunity-prone and conflict-riddled nations like Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mexico, Pakistan etcetera.

Such synergy and partnership in an Information Age, is the best way to make the most of the advantages of social media which far outweigh any perceived disadvantages.

“The Guild notes that Nigeria has enough extant laws, including the Cyber Crime Act 2015, to deal with issues of ‘hate speech’ and ‘Fake News’.”

It therefore urged the government to test such laws in the courts of competent jurisdictions in accordance with due process of the law rather than create another legal instrument and atmosphere that would give agents of state the latitude to harass and criminalise citizens, especially journalists.

While observing that in most cases, it is the officials of governments at all levels that push out Fake News and hate speech by their words and actions; the Guild stressed that it behooves government actors to check their actions and utterances.

It also called on government and security agencies to release forthwith all journalists being detained nationwide, as their continued detention run contrary to the grains of the Constitution.

The Guild also used the opportunity to congratulate its former President, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, on her recent appointment as the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation and elected Mr. Mustapha Isah as Acting President of the Guild in her place.

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