Reps advocate social media regulation as FG insists Twitter ban is in Nigeria’s interest

 

An APC chieftain from Katsina State and a House of Representatives Committee member on Information, Fatuhu Mohammed has called for the regulation of social media claiming the time had come for the country to face up to the real issues confronting it.

Mohammed made the call when Lai Mohammed appeared before the House Committee on Information on Tuesday.

Lai Mohammed had cited various sections of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in support of the action that was officially taken in light of the security challenges facing the country.

Reacting, he said that if the Minister had not banned Twitter, with the permission of Mr President, the kind of insults to the sovereignty of Nigeria, coming from its users, would be worrisome.

NBC Act: Regulate all online broadcasters including Twitter – Lai Mohammed tells Lawmakers

Also speaking, Rep Shaba Ibrahim (PDP-Kogi), a member of the committee on Information said the Minister of information, Lai Mohammed did a good rendition of the legal framework that supported the steps taken to ban Twitter.

He said that allowing such infractions by Twitter to go unchecked, until the President’s tweet was taken down, amounted to a disservice to the country.

Ibrahim observed that anything would pale into insignificance where national interest and security were at stake.

Similarly, Rep. Chinedu Ogah (APC-Ebonyi), also a member of the committee, stated that if the law regulating social media had been implemented, the activities of the micro-blogging site would have been checked.

“For example, in China, social media is being regulated and such a thing is not in Nigeria, and we have all those agencies that are capable of the regulation in the country.