PREAMBLE
As part of its contribution towards a peaceful 2015 General Elections, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with a support from the MacArthur Foundation and the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Program (NSRP), hosted a 2-day international meeting on dangerous speech in Abuja.
The meeting which took place at the board room of the Yar’Adua Centre between January 22 and 23, 2015 was attended by members of the civil society, journalists as well as security agents and representatives of political parties and featured in-depth discussions on identifying and averting hate and dangerous speech in Nigeria, particularly as we approach the 2015 elections.
The keynote address at the meeting was delivered by Prof Susan Benesch from Harvard University, USA Kagonya Awori and Sidney Ochieng iHub then shared their experiences countering hate speech in Kenya. The meeting identified and discussed various acts of hate and dangerous speech by politicians, political leaders and members of the Nigerian public that are already taking place as the 2015 elections approach. Those present then agreed ways to prevent or reduce violence by countering dangerous speech.
OBSERVATIONS
- Dangerous speech is no doubt an issue in Nigeria today as a result of the proliferation of such messages in both traditional and new media.
- Promoters of dangerous speech in Nigeria continue to do so because they always get away with it as no one gets punished for doing that.
- Members of all political parties use various media platforms to promote hate and dangerous speech.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Talking to a larger or expanded group of audience including various members of the civil society including politicians, youth, security agencies, and social media users will generate more debates and views about hate and dangerous speech and thus more approaches towards taming it.
- The Nigeria Broadcasting Commission’s code against hate speech must be enforced by broadcast media organisations to prevent the airing of dangerous speeches on their airwaves.
- Media organisations in Nigeria must enforce the election monitoring code for media organizations which is anti-dangerous speech.
- There is need for capacities building workshops for media reporters (by proprietors of media organisations) to report political issues responsibly and avoid dangerous speech.
- The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers should train their members on what to report and not to report online.
- Religious and traditional institutions must caution their members against hate and dangerous speech.
- Politicians should abide by the code of conduct of their political parties which preach against dangerous speech
- Dangerous speech should not be ignored as such CSOs should form a coalition that will monitor dangerous speech as well as counter it.
- There should be a security and media roundtable to discuss modalities of taming hate speech that will look into how to report dangerous speech and where to do that.
- Influential political leaders should be mindful of their utterances while speaking in their local languages which risk being misinterpreted by members of other ethnic groups that may not understand what they are saying.
- Popular film actors across Nigeria should be made anti-dangerous speech ambassadors since whatever they say easily attracts the attention of the general public.
- There should be an inter-party dialogue on taming hate and dangerous speeches among leaders of political parties and their followers alike.
- There is need for a joint effort by media organizations, media regulators, security agencies and election monitoring bodies to jointly monitor and tame hate and dangerous speech.
- CSOs should leverage on existing networks of CSOs to reach out to aspirants into political offices to sign peace pacts at state and local government levels.
- Dangerous speech should be incorporated into the voter education activities of INEC and other CSOs.
- There is need for intensive “Say No to Dangerous Speech” sensitisation campaign using SMSs, flyers and other means of reaching out to people at the grassroots.
- There is need for a sort of platform for respected opinion leaders to specifically counter dangerous speeches using their various platforms like the media.
- There is need for advocacy on GSM service providers to let them know that their networks are being used to promote dangerous speech and explore possibilities of taming it.
- There is need for intense social media campaign using short, catchy info-graphics to dissuade the public from engaging in dangerous speech.
- Dangerous speech should be mainstreamed into the curriculum of schools in Nigeria.
- There should be continuous training for CSOs, journalists against dangerous speech.
Signed Signed
Z. Ya’u Hajiya Bilkisu
Executive Director Executive Director
CITAD Advocacy Nigeria
Storified:Highlights of CITAD’s International Meeting In Abuja on Dangerous Speech
