“I’ll support any Senate proposal to regulate social media”, Dele Alake

Ministerial nominee, Dele Alake, says he will support any proposal by the Senate to regulate social media in Nigeria.

Mr Alake, who is tipped as potential minister of information, disclosed this while fielding questions during ministerial screening before the Senate on Wednesday.

“The downside of social media is that it is detrimental to a good and decent society. What I would support is the strengthening of regulations,” Mr Alake said.

“There are laws that guide our conduct in every area of human endeavour but the application of these laws has been shut.

“I will recommend the strengthening of our regulations and the applications of those laws. The laws must be tested so we can know the proficiency of those regulations. I will support anything that comes from this hallowed chamber that promotes that course of action,” Mr Alake added.

Debates on social media regulation have generated much criticism from Nigerians who fear the government could deploy regulations to censor citizens and the press.

Under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, the anti-social media bill faced vehement opposition from the citizenry but it has continued to be a reoccurring issue in national discuss.

As the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 presidential election, Bola Tinubu said he no longer monitors trending events on social media due to the abusive and hostile reception that he gets from Nigerians.

“I don’t need social media anymore. They abused the hell out of me. If I read it, I will have high blood pressure and I get angry, so I don’t read it. If I want to hear anything, my children or any of my workers will inform me about what people are saying,” he said.