By Chekwube Nzomiwu
Public Forum
Nigerians know the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, as someone who commits himself to every national assignment given to him. We cannot forget in a hurry his days as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when, as a commissioner of police, he arrested and handcuffed his boss, the Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun (now late), for engaging in corruption.
Balogun later pleaded guilty to an eight-count charge slammed against him by the EFCC at the Federal High Court, Lagos. This happened during the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
When power changed hands from Obasanjo to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (equally late), Ribadu, the hunter, became the hunted. By the grace of God, he lived to tell the story. I still vividly remember Ribadu’s statement after two attempts on his life that, “When you fight corruption, it fights back.”
Consequently, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced his name as the NSA, it did not generate much controversy. I had in an earlier article, titled “Broadening the Scope of National Security,” noted the President did not make a bad choice for the job of NSA. Indeed, I differed with those who felt that the job should be an exclusive preserve of the military.
My conviction then that Ribadu understood the nitty-gritty of the job was reinforced by his timely intervention in the resolution of the labour strike emanating from the attack on the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, Imo State, by suspected agents of the state government. Some of his immediate predecessors would have allowed that incident to snowball into a major crisis in the country.
Nonetheless, I think that the NSA should tread cautiously on the issue of social media regulation. The manner in which he has consistently championed this cause for some months now calls for concern. Whereas I detest people using any of the numerous digital platforms to mislead others, whether in the form of misinformation or disinformation or, in some instances, outright fake news, it sounds eccentric to me to hear a person of Ribadu’s calibre describe social media use as a national security priority. Rather, I think that it is a misplaced priority to put social media use in the national security radar when we have our hands full with a multitude of security challenges, including insurgency, terrorism, banditry and bloody secessionist agitation.
The job of the NSA is to advise the President on how the government could protect the Nigerian state and her citizens from all kinds of crises. If regulating the social media and, by implication, freedom of expression is the only advice that Ribadu could offer the President under the prevailing circumstances of pervasive insecurity confronting the country, I am afraid he has failed to discharge his duties creditably.
Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) entitles every Nigerian the freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference. Also Section 39(2) entitles every Nigerian to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinion, with a caveat that only the Government of the Federation or of a State or any other person or body authorised by the President on the fulfillment of the conditions laid down by an Act of the National Assembly, shall own, establish or operate television or wireless broadcasting station for any purpose whatsoever.
Subsection 3 says that, “Nothing in this section shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society-(a) or the purpose of preventing disclosure of information received in confidence, maintaining the authority and independence of courts or regulating telephony, wireless broadcasting, television or the exhibition of cinematography films; or (b) imposing restrictions upon persons holding office under the Government of the Federation or state, members of the armed forces of the Federation or members of the Nigeria Police Force or other government security services or agencies, established by law.”
From the above-mentioned section of the Constitution, it is obvious that the freedom of expression in Nigeria is not absolute. Besides, there are laws in Nigeria governing public communication, such as Defamation (libel and slander), Sedition, Copyright, Contempt of Court, Official Secrets Act, Passing-off, and Privacy, among others. Some of these laws have existed for decades. In 2015, the National Assembly enacted the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, prevention, etc) Act. According to its Explanatory Memorandum, the Act provides an effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of all cybercrimes in Nigeria.
So, what’s the fuss about social media? If Ribadu does not understand the meaning of social media, I will operationalise the definition here for his sake and that of other interested members of the public, particularly the ones who may have been confused in their minds by the vicious campaign against the digital technology. The construct “social media” encompasses virtual platforms that allow for sharing ideas and information in the form of content, including documents, images, animated pictures, videos and audio recordings, among others. Its instantaneous, interactive, multi-media and hyper-textual characteristics give it an edge over the traditional media like the television and radio.
Popular social media platforms include Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Linkedln, Snapchat, Youtube, WhatsApp, Reddit, Wechat, Telegram and X.com. These platforms make information more accessible and real-time, and assist in building relationships. They also help people to connect with each other quickly for promoting business, innovation, gainful employment, education and better health, as well as socio-political causes, to mention but a few.
So, anybody campaigning against the use of social media should also consider the benefits. Focusing on the misuse alone smacks of ulterior motives. Unless the intention of Ribadu is to return us to the era of Plato (428/427 BCE) when only the statement beneficial to the government in power is the truth, he should realise that the “Voice of the people is the voice of God.” The voice of the people matters. They must be heard.
Today, social media has become a primary source of information as much as the traditional press. Information is the oxygen of democracy. There is currently a raging debate over which among the social and traditional media should be the fourth estate of the realm. Prior to this debate, bloggers and citizen journalists operating on the web were associated with the fifth estate, a term dating back to the era of the popular underground newspaper, “Fifth Estate,” which existed in Detroit, the United States of America, in the1960s.
Therefore, an attempt to gag social media is an encroachment on the freedom of expression and the people’s right to information. I can say without fear of contradiction that the security predicaments confronting us were not the making of the web-based technologies. They were borne out of a combination of bad leadership, corruption, nepotism, religious intolerance and their offshoots, which have bedevilled Nigeria over the years.
Today, the situation has not changed. Those who enter public office by hook or by crook believe that they are in power to feather their nest. They place personal and family interest above public interest. Early last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said 63 percent of Nigerians (about 133 million people) were living in multi-dimensional poverty under the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Under President Tinubu, the number has quadrupled in the past one year in a country that paid $150,000 for the official vehicle of each of the 469 federal lawmakers, and N21 billion for the renovation of the home of the Vice-President. In spite of the horrifying condition of the national economy, we are now talking about acquiring two presidential aircraft for the President and Vice-President. No country makes progress when priorities are misplaced.
In conclusion, Ribadu should refocus his attention from the social media to the troubling security challenges confronting the country. As NSA, he should also be concerned about the very poor condition of the economy, high rate of unemployment, food insecurity and environmental degradation, safeguarding of our institutions and every other thing pertaining to the nation. Some of these factors are triggers of insecurity. Finally, the National Orientation Agency and its parent ministry, the Federal Ministry of Information, are there to assist the NSA in promoting responsible, lawful and meaningful use of the social media.
•Nzomiwu wrote from Awka, Anambra State