Mr Mike Omeri, Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), has said that the Federal Government has no plan to restrict the use of social media. Omeri told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that the social media was a lifestyle which everybody had adopted.
He said that the social media was a lifestyle adopted by people, governments, youths and personalities, adding that it was just the use to which it was put to that should be checked.
“There is no plan at the moment to restrict the use of social media, but what the agency is doing is to encourage people to do the right thing, NOA cannot control the lifestyle of individual; that will become too excessive,” Omeri said.
He said that the agency would soon unveil a strategy for the use of social media, adding that a situation where it was being use for criminal activities was undesirable.
“The NOA at its level now in addition to sensitising Nigerian in allowing themselves to become susceptible to criminal and other deviant behavior on social media, is planning to engage media practitioners to discuss its role in the social development of the country through the use of social media,” he said.
Omeri said that the agency would partner with media houses to come up with effective strategy that would ensure Nigerians did not fall victim of the negative side of social media.
“We will ensure that our people do not fall victim of what should otherwise be a source of news information and entertainment,” he said. According to him, the best thing to do now is to sensitise the people to do the right thing by deploying the social media for good purposes like education, and some social purposes that are not danger prone.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that a few people had become victim of the use of social media such as facebook, twitter, Badoo, to go, among others.
NAN recalls the case of Cynthia Osogwu, a post graduate student of Nasarawa State University who travelled to Lagos to meet his facebook friends on the guise of transacting business, but was raped and killed. NOA has, however, promised to ensure that Nigerians were sensitise on the positive use of social media and sensitise the people on the danger inherent in abusing it. (NAN)