In response to the aggressive fervor of critics, Presidential Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila has launched a campaign calling for the regulation of social media by the Nigerian government. Gbajabiamila, who was an influential lawmaker before becoming President Bola Tinubu’s vice president last year, angrily called it a “social menace”. he is wrong
This perspective is shocking in a democracy. This also makes no economic sense. The Federal Inland Service has announced that international digital companies operating in Nigeria paid $1.3 billion in taxes in the 15 months to March 2023.
The right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution and should be upheld by everyone, including the government. All democrats need to unite against this intrusion and ensure that Mr. Gbajabiamila’s objectives are not achieved. This must be firmly resisted and challenged by citizens and civil society organizations.
“Social media has become a social menace and must be regulated,” the former House Speaker said at a book presentation in Lagos. This is a strongly worded salvo.
Gbajabiamila added that he proposed a bill to regulate social media when he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. “But we faced very strong resistance from civil society. It seems like the chickens are finally coming home to roost. And we believe we’re all on the same page now.”
In fact, Gbajabiamila has recently been the target of harassment and corruption accusations, which may have incited him to take control of social media.
In hindsight, he was the second term chairman of the Muhammadu Buhari government. The government, led by Information Minister Lai Mohammed, consistently opposed media freedom. X (then Twitter) was suspended for seven months (from June 2021 to January 2022) after the microblogging site supported the #EndSARS protests in October 2020. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated that the ban cost Nigeria’s economy $26.1 billion.
Social media regulations are standard in repressive countries. According to Dataphyte, Nigeria has one of the African countries with the longest social media/internet ban period. Other countries featured were Eritrea, Morocco, Chad and Burkina Faso.
Article 39 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression. All Nigerians are guaranteed by this Constitution the freedom to openly express their thoughts, opinions and ideas.
In 2023, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project called on Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to “reject the recently reintroduced Social Media Regulation Bill.”
SERAP said the bill’s passage would “unreasonably restrict freedom of expression and the right to privacy” and called on the Tinubu government to deny such “fundamental human rights” to technology companies such as Google and YouTube. called for an end to efforts to enforce restrictions.
Although social media has some unpleasant aspects, social media can be very beneficial for Nigerians. This has allowed businesses to reach a larger audience and increase brand awareness at a lower cost. Many citizens run their businesses on social media because it provides a platform to interact with customers. The political class has also benefited from social media through voter mobilization, fundraising, and information sharing.
Instead of relying on the primitive urge to “regulate” social media, social media platforms have built-in tools that can be used to address objectionable content. Nigeria has enacted a cybercrime law that could apply to harassment, defamation and inflammatory content on social media.
Rather than do everything in its power to suppress the voices of Nigerians on social media, the government should support efforts to counter disinformation through fact-checking and embrace transparency and open communication.
At a time when Nigeria faces many challenges, including poverty, insecurity and economic hardship, restricting freedom of expression must not be a priority for the federal government. Instead, attention should be directed to addressing these pressing issues.