The Nigerian government has announced that it is monitoring prominent citizens who are propagating hate speech on social media.
The country’s Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has directed security agencies to deal with the hate speech menace usually carried out in the media.
A statement from the Nigerian government said Dan-Ali gave the directive during a meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Thursday.
“The Honourable Minister expressed the need by the relevant security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, tackle the propagation of hate speech especially through the social media particularly by some notable Nigerians,” the statement said.
The Nigerian government last year declared that hate speech was now an act of terrorism in Nigeria.
The country’s vice President, Yemi Osinbajo then said that hate speech under the country’s new anti-terrorism law now amounts to terrorism and taken seriously.
He said “Hate speech is a specie of terrorism … We’ve drawn a line against hate speech, it will not be tolerated, it will be taken as an act of terrorism and all of the consequences will follow it.”
Osinbajo asked citizens to avoid speeches that create dissent and intimidate people since “they do a great disservice to our unity and nation.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
