Stakeholders in the media and political circles have made a case for regulation of social media platforms to ensure accountability and credible elections in 2023
The development is part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 4th anniversary lecture of Penpushing Media at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The theme of the lecture is titled: “Social Media Regulation: Insecurity and Elections in Nigeria”.
In a communique issued at the session and signed by Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Founder and Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi,
Chairperson Planning Committee, the stakeholders sought for regulation of social media as canvassed by the guest speaker and expressed concern over the use of social media in the promotion of hate speeches and fake news.
The participants also agreed that some of the social media reports pose security threats and risks to credible polls during the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
They added that it is unacceptable for people to hide under or use social media to spread hate speeches, hack private accounts, as well as misinterpret and misrepresent others deliberately.
After an exhaustive deliberation on achieving sanity in the use of social media through regulation, the participants emphasized that co-regulation was the key involving all the necessary stakeholders, saying that since the media was crucial to governance, urged social media practitioners to be conversant with and function within the specific ambit of existing laws and self regulate where necessary.
The statement reads in part: “Participants charged the government to be more responsive to citizens needs and aspirations, building trust between it and the citizens, such that social media regulation in whatever guise will get the buy-in of the people and will not be viewed with suspicion, stressing that government can only function effectively when it is trusted by the citizens.
“Participants also challenged social media platforms to do much more in bringing about electoral reforms, checkmate endemic problems like vote buying, rigging in whatever form, electoral violence, thuggery, manipulation of electoral laws by both politicians and security agents, as well as poor participation in the electoral process, adding that the media must assist in building on the success of the recently-concluded Osun governorship election”.
The communique also said that participants noted that social media has become an important tool of political activism and a platform for informal political debates.
It added that with the existing data of 33 million social media users in Nigeria as of January 2021, and a cellphone access figure of over 48 percent, as well as internet access of 36 percent, social media remain the first port of call for many information-seekers and the available medium to willing information-givers, hence, “the bad, the good and, the ugly become occupiers of the social media space, dealing in all kinds of information, which could be inimical or advantageous to national growth and unity”.
Participants observed “that the situation has ushered in an era of information disorder where fake news, misinformation, and/or disinformation thrives and because consumption of mobile social media contents has become the norm, it is becoming increasingly difficult to track the spread of false information.
“That while there are adequate laws in the statute books, all efforts by the Nigerian government at regulating social media have been self-serving and misdirected”.
Most significantly, the participants challenged social media platforms to be “responsible and self-regulate, mobilise for mass participation in the forthcoming elections and foster greater unity among Nigerians”.
Penpushing Media is a convergence of political and media practitioners in the country.
The last edition was graced by a former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; the 14th Emir of Kano, His Highness, Muhammad Sanusi Lamido; the wife of a former President of Nigeria, Chief (Mrs.) Bola Obasanjo, Kunle Oluomo, Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly and Regional Director for West Africa, Ford Foundation, Dr. Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, who was the Keynote Speaker.
Panelists included: Lanre Arogundade, Founder, International Press Centre; ; Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, Founder WFM Radio; Almajid Alli, Former Deputy Inspector General of Police; represented by Muyiwa Adejobi, Nigerian Police Force Public Relations Officer, Bridget Osakwe, National Coordinator, West African Network for Peace Building.
