Following the recent gruesome murder of Cynthia Osokogu
by people she met on a social media platform, many Nigerians have
canvassed the need to regulate the unlimited freedom people have to
social networking media. CHARLES KUMOLU reports
THE emergence of social media like
Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry Messenger and
YouTube
have changed the face of media practice by making information sharing
easier, faster and quicker. But this is not without its demerits. Social
media has become a threat to the ethics of media practice and good
governance because of its accessibility and absolute freedom.
Every freedom carries a responsibility. Even in advanced democracies
where we all believe good governance is practised, there is no absolute
freedom. I, therefore, believe that there must be a measure to check the
negative tendencies of the social media in our country.’’
Cynthia…lured through Facebook and murdered and murdered and Facebook founder: Mark Zukerberg
It was on this note that the Senate President, Senator David Mark
kicked off a two-day retreat for Senate Press Corps in Umuahia, Abia
State two months ago.
The Senate President said the check became necessary because people
now use social media to demean their leaders. He added that there was no
opportunity for retraction of information in such media.
The position of the Senate President, however, attracted criticisms
from various quarters, especially from those, who noted that social
media platforms are a mechanism for ordinary citizens to assess the
performance of their leaders.
On the heels of the condemnations, were several posts on
Facebook, which called for an Occupy David Mark movement, as a way of checkmating the suggestion.
For instance, a particular post on Saharareporters read thus:
“ATTENTION: Occupy David Mark. The Senate President must be stopped from
his moves to restrict the use of social media in Nigeria, as it has
been done in militarised countries of the world. He has been quoted as
saying the social media is being used to insult leaders. We are not in
North Korea, this is a democracy. Occupy his telephone line and help
save our only freedom of expression”.
Another social media platform,
Nairaland also had a post
which read: “We now have citizen journalists. To me that’s a big
improvement for the masses. The revolution in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya
would have been impossible to organise without the social media. If
someone commits what could pass for a crime, by all means get the person
and sue him. They do it all the time in US and UK. Nothing is wrong
with that. There is a difference between slander and personal opinion. I
can say Mr President is silly based on my personal observation of his
conduct but I should be ready to prove it if I say that he embezzled 10
billion naira. Now, let me ask, why are they so concerned.
“Are we doing them any real damage? Are they not still stealing our monies despite our
Nairaland
and other nonsense web where we helplessly vent our anger? Do your
torturers have the right to tell you not to scream and cry?’’
Barely two months after the call by the Senate President, the nation
was faced with the bizarre murder of Cynthia Osokogu, made possible by a
social media platform,
Facebook.
For those, who had attacked and even supported the Senate President’s
position, the Cynthia saga was a reminder of earlier calls, by Mark and
others, for a law to regulate the social media.
The late Cynthia, it would be recalled, was the last and only
daughter of Major General Frank Osokogu and his wife Joy. A business
woman and student, the 24- year-old was declared missing on July 22, a
few weeks to her 25th birthday.
She came into Lagos to purchase goods for her boutique and also keep a date with a few
Facebook friends who had allegedly paid her air fares. She was allegedly lured to a hotel in FESTAC where she was killed.
Her alleged killers were said to be her
Facebook friends who
were part of a syndicate which lures young women to Lagos, robs them
of their possessions and murders them. Cynthia was their sixth victim.
She was allegedly drugged, robbed and strangled. All forms of
identification were taken off her at the time of her death. She was
even reported to be a call-girl who died in the ‘line of duty’.
Police the social media platforms
With the trial of Cynthia’s alleged killers still on-going,
Vanguard Features
investigations reveal a growing concern over the use of social media
networks and the need to regulate the use of social media in the
country.
Only recently, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku,
lamented the mischievous use of the social media by some Nigerians. He
spoke at the 20th anniversary of the National Broadcasting Commission,
NBC in Abuja,
He decried the unwholesome information and pictures of teenagers posted on
Facebook, which are sometimes used to tarnish the image of some innocent Nigerians.
Also corroborating Maku’s call for a regulatory framework, Chief Emeke Ndige, told
VF that
it is regrettable that the merits of social media are being consumed by
its disadvantages. He called on the regulatory bodies to check the
trend, adding that concerned agencies should come up with laws
regulating the freedom in social media usage.
“It is a sad development, and we should all rise to do everything
within the ambit of the law to checkmate this trend. It was unfortunate
that the young lady ended in such manner. But it has come with a
purpose because the law would now become so responsive to the need to
police the social media platforms. They have to be policed in order to
create order in its usage, because there is so much freedom there, ‘’ he
stated.
Continuing, Ndige said: ‘’I am not against any form of liberty; as a
lawyer we support people’s inalienable rights, but that right should not
infringe on other people’s life. So NCC and other concerned agencies
should come in. But that is not all, the law enforcement agencies and
the judiciary should ensure that any social media suspect is prosecuted
to a logical conclusion to serve as a deterrent to others. In other
countries, cyber criminals are prosecuted by the law’’.
Also speaking on the need for cyber security in the country, the
Managing Partner of Okoro&Okoror Chambers, Chief Eidonogie Isiwele,
told
VF, that there was nothing wrong with the unlimited
freedom in social media. He explained that what is needed is to create a
secured future for the youths.
‘’I am not holding brief for anyone, but you will agree that most
cyber related crimes in Nigeria are driven by poverty and state of
hopelessness. A lot of people have no future in this country because of
the collapse of the social system, hence surviving in Nigeria, to them,
becomes survival of the fittest. The situation made the people to
embrace internet crimes, but that notwithstanding, the law should be
preventive on social media crime,” he said
As far as Isiwele is concerned: ‘’Relevant laws should be put in
place, but the people’s right to social media should not be stopped like
what obtains in few countries where their laws are draconian as regards
to social media.
“I know that the Federal Government made attempts to curb the
excesses of social media and its growing influence early this year; it
is in order because it would reduce the soaring rate of cyber crimes in
the country,’’ he posited
According to him: ‘’Cyber criminals are already exploiting
vulnerabilities and loopholes in national and regional legislation,
there is evidence that they are shifting their diverse operations to
countries where appropriate and enforcement laws are not yet in place’’.
A 2008 report by the President of Global Network for Cyber Solutions,
Dr. Chris Uwaje, stressed the need for government to seek the advice of
experts in the field of information technology. ‘’If Nigeria knows IP
and cyber security issues, they should domicile them at the footstep of
the professionals in the CPN, the NCS and ATCON. These are people who
have been trained in the area of informatics and information technology
development; they should be the experts advising government,’’ the
report said
Continuing, Uwagie declared : ‘’ How can we have a nation that does
not have an IT adviser to the President? And you want to safeguard your
country from digital attack. There must be a Special Assistant to the
Office of Mr. President, who would be a senior adviser on information
technology. These are the things that need to be put in place in the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is very strategically imperative that
we need to do as fast as we can’’.
According to him: ‘’ There is no reason why we should not have an
Institute of Cybercrime Monitoring; there is no reason why we cannot
have Cyber Engineering in our institutions; there is no reason why we
should not inculcate the cybersecurity curriculum from primary school
upwards. Just the same way we used to have the civic lessons of old,
cybersecurity and cybercrime can be introduced at the primary and
secondary schools levels’’.
Vanguard Features recalls a recent report on Aljazzeera titled:
“Dutch boy sentenced in Facebook murder case”
.
According to the report, the 15-year-old Dutch boy was sentenced to
a year in juvenile detention after he confessed to killing a schoolgirl
over a row that appears to have begun on
Facebook, the
social-networking site. Jinhua K was 14 when he fatally stabbed Joyce
“Winsie” Hau at her home. Jinhua was further convicted by the court for
attempting to kill his victim’s father.
‘’The case, known in the Netherlands as the
Facebook murder,
caused widespread debate about the role of social media in violent
crimes. The court said the boy did not know the victim and had murdered
her “at the request or instructions of others”.
Dutch media reported that the 15-year-old victim had argued for weeks
with two friends on the social-networking site before they allegedly
asked the defendant, who was 14 at the time, to kill her. He was offered
a 1,000-euro payment, the media reported.
