CENTER for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has said that as Kogi gubernatorial election is around the corner, they have observed circulation of anonymous write-ups inciting hatred and it could jeopardized peace in kogi before, during and after the election.
Addressing newsmen in Lokoja on Monday, the Coordinator, Countering Hate Speech Project, CENTER for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Mallam Hamza Ibrahim noted that the write-ups are shared especially on WhatsApp, adding that they feel this is a problem that people should educate on.
According to him, there monitoring platform has from 20th August to September 10, 2019, they captured 138 hate speech and violence against women online items
“Having tracked and analyzed the speech items over the stated period, we are worried that remarks of some Nigerian social media users are becoming a big challenge because of their pseudo effect.
“It is also our worry that social media platforms in Nigeria are gradually becoming unfavourable for women and girls because of the harassment, bullying, insults, and denigration they are exposed to,” he lamented.
He therefore called on Twitter and Facebook users to be sensitive to Nigeria’s diversity when making tweets, posts or reacting remarks on the platforms.
He also urged social media activities to be advocates of peace, shun and discourage hate speech and online violence against women.
His words, ” We specially call on Facebook to set rigorous procedures for creating and maintaining groups and pages on their platforms as most of the speech items captured emanated from there.
“Facebook should be more responsive to report of complaints of their users especially those relating to hate speech and online violence against women.
The coordinator in strong term called on the authors of the hateful pieces about kogi election to be peace loving and stop publishing such content as he also called on the Law enforcement agencies to enforce provisions in the Electoral Act and other legislations that forbade hate and dangerous speech to discourage further spreed.
