Police your children on social media, NOA DG tells parents

As part of efforts to curb the growing menace of hate speech in the country, the director general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Garba Abari has advised parents and caregivers to monitor the activities of their children and wards on social media.

Abari gave the charge at a one-day roundtable organized for online journalists, bloggers and social media influencers on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 in Abuja.

Using himself as an example, the NOA boss said he monitors the activities of his five grown up children on all social media.

“Parents should police their children on social media,” Abari began.

“I have five children, four of them are all in their 20s while the eldest id in his 30s but I follow them on all the social media platforms to see what they are doing there.

“These days, parents do not care to know what their children are up to on social media and most of them go about spreading hate online,” he added.

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Using the Rwandan Genocide as a case study, Abari urged Nigerians to be nationalistic while posting information on the social media due to its immediacy of impact, heavy users, boundless nature and unbridled nature.

“Its ambivalent character, both as a potent tool for promoting transparency, accountability and national peace and unity, on the one hand, and on the other, for promoting hatred, divisiveness and civil unrest, depending on the user and the motive.

“This is attested to by the conflict insensitive posts, most social media platforms are saturated with, most of which are provocative, false and misleading, with consequences that are far reaching for our corporate existence as a country.

“A country as complex, diverse and fragile as ours, must be spared the horror that is the inevitable consequence of such conflict insensitive communication,” the NOA boss added.

His remark, the Director Defence Information, Major-General John Enenche urged Nigerians to exercise caution while on the social media saying hate speeches could put the country’s national security under threat.