Tag: Social Media

“Social media not Nigeria’s problem; reject Bill to regulate it” – SERAP urges NASS

Aminu Imam

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas “to reject the recently reintroduced social media regulation Bill, which if passed would unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression and privacy”. In the letter dated 14 October 2023, signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the Bill would “criminalise the legitimate and lawful exercise of human rights”. It urged them to “request the administration of President Bola Tinubu to drop any ongoing efforts to put pressure on Google,…

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Social Media Regulation Bill: “We are engaging Google, TikTok” – NBC

Aminu Imam

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said that it is in discussions with prominent social media platforms such as Google and TikTok to address the misconduct of their users. Director of Broadcast Monitoring at NBC, Francisca Aiyetan, discussed the Commission’s intention to regulate social media in a published interview on Friday. She warned that without regulation, social media might mislead young people, saying: “Every country is making efforts to regulate social media, and Nigeria also is making efforts because we know that there are a lot of things to harness…

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NBC Act: “We have sent social media regulation Bill to NASS” – DG

Aminu Imam

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it has sent a Bill for the regulation of social media to the National Assembly.  The regulator is seeking to repeal and reenact the NBC act, CAP L11 laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004. Speaking when he hosted, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohamme Idris, at the Commission’s headquarters on Tuesday, the NBC Director-General, Balarabe Ilelah, described the ills of social media as a ‘monster’. Ilelah said the current law does not give the NBC the right to regulate social media.…

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Banks must obtain customers’ social media handles for identification – CBN

Aminu Imam

Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), has directed financial institutions to request their customers’ social media handles, as well as other personal information in a bid to combat money laundering and other various offences. The CBN, in a recent memo to the banks, said the directive on strengthening customer due diligence is in line with their regulations on money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorism. CBN said in the statement that the information banks are mandated to obtain from their customers in line with the customer due diligence are; legal name…

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FG seeks support of South-East leaders on social media regulation

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

The Federal Government on Saturday solicited the support of South-East governors and leaders in the zone on social media regulation to check fake news and misinformation of Nigerians. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the appeal while speaking at a presidential delegation interaction with South-East governors and other leaders of the zone in Enugu. Mohammed said that the #EndSARS protest and agitation that turned violent and destructive in the country were brought about by fake news emanating from the negative use of the social media. According to…

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Social media pushing more Nigerians into migration than insecurity, poverty – IOM

Ishaku Yohanna

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday that social media is a major tool influencing young Nigerians to want to migrate to foreign countries in search of greener pastures. Speaking in a virtual interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on the impact of insecurity on migration, Mr Franz Celestin, IOM Chief of Mission, said that social media has influenced many more migrations than insecurity. With specific reference to the number of Nigerian returnees from Libya, he said that the Southern states which accounted for the highest…

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