Crackdown On Social Media Will Increase Unemployment, Expert Warns

Following suspicions of renewed plans by the Nigerian Government to reactivate the social media bill and similar policies, Chief Executive Officer of Brisk Capital, Dominic Joshua, has warned that any move made to stifle social media interactions will lead to massive unemployment in Nigeria.

This warning comes on the heels of the submission by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, during the 2021 budget presentation at the National Assembly where he said the nation needed a social media policy.

Recall that on November 5, 2019, a bill to regulate social media in Nigeria and criminalise peddling of falsehood and malicious information was advanced before the National Assembly.

The bill, however, received backlash from Nigerians, who argued that it was meant to deprive them of their rights to communication.

Joshua, in an interview, stated that shutting down what he described as the ”number one digital platform for youth in Nigeria was a move to not just stifle freedom of speech but also increase unemployment rate in the country.

He said, "Majority of Nigerian youths have got their dream jobs and started their dream careers working remotely with the use of social media.

"We've seen within the last one week what mass unemployment has caused in the country with large scale arson and vandalism by hoodlums."

The investment expert said it was time the country understood and dealt with the factors that led to unrest in the country, rather than shut down technology.

He reiterated that social media was not the problem, even though he acknowledged that misinformation could happen there.

He added that misinformation could also happen offline in the mainstream media.

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