Social media and its many successes in Nigeria

The use of the social media in Nigeria has, over the years, been condemned by the government and some few influential people who feel threatened by the merits and use of this tool. Social media has no doubt brought the government, powerful people and celebrities in the country closer to the masses, not to mention how it has turned out to be a very productive tool for checkmating the activities of government and its policies.

The government also uses the social media as an apparatus in measuring their popularity as well as the acceptability of their proposed policies to the people. This is why, often times, the government acts based on the reactions of Nigerians either by their acceptance or rejection. Nigerians did not necessarily, over the past years, have to crowd the street to make their grievances known, but have chosen to make optimum use of the social media in passing their messages across thereby serving as watchdogs to the government.

Last year, being an election year, the social media recorded a lot of successes in the country as it was used massively by the people in putting the three tiers of government on their toes. The notable ones are Senator Elisha Abbo, who publicly assaulted a woman; the proposed anti-hate speech bill, and the release of Omoyele Sowore from detention. This year, the social media has recorded at least three major successes, ranging from the suspension of National ID for UTME, investigation of the policeman caught extorting money from commuters with a POS machine, to the rescue of the Nigerian lady swindled to Lebanon for slavery.

In July 2019, the video of Nigeria’s youngest senator caught on camera physically assaulting a woman at an adult toy shop in Abuja surfaced online and aggravated a lot of heat on social media both nationally and internationally. The heat was so much that the National Assembly had to summon Abbo to through its disciplinary committee. The pressure was so much on the senator that he had to call a press conference, where he apologised openly that he was deeply sorry for what he did.

The social media triumphed.

In another development, towards the end of last year, the people via social media made their stand known on the proposed hate speech bill proposed by one of Nigerian lawmakers. The pressure weighed much on the National Assembly and the presidency on social media as Nigerians in and outside the country, even national and international organisations frowned at the proposed death penalty for defaulters of the bill that was being considered by the Senate.

Bowing again to the will of the people, even the presidency and the senate in a dramatic turnaround quickly distanced themselves from the bill. The president of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan was quoted to have said: “The predominance of opinion of Nigerians will determine the way the hate speech bill will go.” He acknowledged the fact that the people will be the ones to decide if the hate speech will be passed or not. This was as a result of the heavy criticisms that followed the reading of the bill as the people see it as a move to get tough on free speech and silence nonconforming voices.

More recently, before 2019 ended, some people ascribed the release of pro-democracy activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, to the steps taken by some notable leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the international bodies. I would rather, however, say that the people via the social media influenced his release when he was arrested, released and later rearrested.

The government bowed to the pressure mounted upon them by the people through the social media when they asked whether we were still in a democratic setting or not after Sowore was partially released and was rearrested in less than 24 hours. On last year Christmas Eve, Sowore was released alongside former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki.

Just few days into 2020, the social media has again recorded some success in three major happenings that have dazed the internet.

In a more recent development, the suspension of the National Identity card for the 2020 UTME exams was due to the public outcry over difficulties intending UTME applicants underwent in trying to enroll and obtain the National Identification Number from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). There were reports and allegations on the social media that NIMC personnel demanded bribes from these applicants to facilitate enrolment coupled with the limited NIMC centers which was overwhelmed by an unprecedented number of applicants seeking enrolment in the last few weeks ahead of the UTME registration exercise.

The issue generated a lot of debates to the point that people demanded the immediate suspension of the process because it was appearing to be unachievable. The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) however, on Saturday, January 12, rescinded its decision to use the National ID card by suspending the process till 2021.

In another recent event, with the help of the viral video on social media of a policeman caught extorting money with a Point-On-Sell machine from commuters, the Nigerian Police and the whole world were able to have a glimpse at the rate at which our security sector has derailed. Highway extortion and bribe have now become a norm for our security personnel; these are people who ought to protect the people.

A report by Saturday Tribune recently explained how the Nigerian Police responded via their social media platform to investigate allegation of policemen extorting drivers with POS machines. This attests to the fact that the social media has achieved a lot in bridging the gap between the people and the government, i.e. the law enforcement agencies.

Lastly, another landmark achievement with use of the social media was the recent rescue of a Nigerian lady, Omolola Ajayi. The government got to know about the lady via a viral video which was shared by users online and was tagged to both Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on twitter.

Dabiri-Erewa, in her feedback on the steps taken by the government on the issue, revealed on her twitter page that the said lady had regained freedom and would return to the country soonest.

In all, the social media though may have some shortcomings, ranging from the undemanding spread of fake news, cyber-bullying, among others, have contributed greatly to the country’s democracy. It has made the government-people relationship easy, and will continue to serve as means to checkmate the policies and activities of the government as well as societal beliefs.

Femi Oguntayo is of the Nigerian Tribune