Nigeria

NBA president faults federal government’s move to regulate social media

Monday, November 02, 2020 at 11:33 AM by Oluwatobi Bolashodun

- The renewed calls for the regulation of social media has generated mix reactions across the country

- The NBA president, Olumide Akpata is not in support of the federal government's move to regulate social media

- According to Akpata, the timing for social media regulation is suspicious

PAY ATTENTION: Win a prize of N115,000, N75,000 or N38,000: participate in Big Naija Independence contest by Legit.ng

The regulation of social media continues to cause ripples in society with Olumide Akpata, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), faulting the move by the federal government.

Akpata believes the timing to further regulate social media is wrong, adding that he struggles with the terms.

The NBA president who made the disclosure while speaking on Channels Television's Sunday Politics said he thinks the social media space is regulated already.

Noting that the timing of the regulation is suspicious, he went on to question if the government plans to regulate or shut down social media.

Read also

This is when Nigeria should be restructured - Governor El-Rufai

‘The Timing Is Suspicious, NBA faults moves to regulate social media — NBA faults move to regulate social media. Photo credit: Premium Times
Source: UGC

He said:

“Are we saying regulate or shutdown? What are we saying because we hear them using regulate? We hear the minister of Information use the word ‘sanitize.’ I just say to myself, ‘what are we trying to do?’ The timing is suspicious.”

Akpata admitted that though there are people who use social media irresponsibly, Nigeria already has existing laws to deal with such.

He argued that if there's a need to tweak the laws, the throwing out the baby and the bathwater approach is not going to work.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that during the EndSARS nationwide protests in Nigeria, there were fears that social media would be shut down by the federal government but that did not happen.

The minister of youth and sports, Sunday Dare, said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government allowed cyberspace in the country to remain open so as not to infringe on Nigerians' right to freedom of speech.