CSOs Warn Senate Against Passage of Social Media Bill.
A Coalition of five Civil Society Organizations, CSO, has warned the Nigerian Senate against any attempt to pass the Social Media Bill.
The Social media bill is sponsored by the executive to regulate what it calls excesses and destabilizing use of the social media to undermine national security and peaceful coexistence.
In abuja on Wednesday, the civil Society Organization told journalists that they had it on authority that the senate was about to use the cover of the Covid 19 emergency regulations to pass the bill, despite its rejection by majority of Nigerians during a public hearing on it.
The CSOs said their fear of underhand maneuvering of the bill into a possible law follows the abridgement of the rules and the speed with which the National Assembly passed the Company and Allied Matter Acts (CAMA) 2020, as well as the Reviewed Broadcasting Code.
The CSOs called on the senate committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal matters, led by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele to reject any move to force the bill through the secret and forward a report of the massive rejection of the bill by Nigerians to the senate
The Civil Society Organizations which took a position on the Social Media Bill included Center For Liberty, Global Rights, Lex Initiative for Rights, Advocacy and Development (LIRAD) and Frederick Nwabufo, TAP Initiative.
A popular news medium had earlier in the week reported that the Nigerian senate planned to pass the Social Media Bill despite its rejection by Nigerians.
