The Chief of Air Staff, Sadiq Abubakar, has cautioned against the use of social media platform for promoting hate speeches and circulating false information.
Mr. Abubakar, an air marshal, made that disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during a workshop on information management for public relations officers in the Nigerian Air Force.
According to Channels Television, the air chief said that using the social media that way would jeopardise the development of Nigeria.
“We are all not unaware of the use of social media by some elements to spread falsehood in addition to promoting hate speeches, violence, anarchy, and confusion in our society,” he said.
“The message of hate and violence does not augur well for the development of our great nation. I, therefore, implore all relevant stakeholders to focus on the use of the social media to inform, educate and entertain as originally intended.”
The air chief gave the directives following President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationwide broadcast on Monday. Mr. Buhari had said that the government would not tolerate separatist movements and inflammatory statements that threaten Nigeria unity and stability adding that Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, have been agitating for the creation of Biafra country over alleged marginalisation of the south-east zone of the country.
In the same vein, a coalition of northern groups has demanded that Nigerians that are ethnic Igbos vacate the northern part of the country before October 1.
