The Centre for Information Technology and Development CITAD has called on community and religious leaders to intensify sensitization within their domains on the dangers of hate speech to national development. CITAD’s Project Coordinator, Countering Hate Speech, Malam Hamza Ibrahim, who made the call in Kano while briefing the press, emphasised the need for religious tolerance and mutual respect for one another among Nigerians. Hamza urged the youths, particularly those using the internet, to always try to explore and leverage on social and economic benefits of the technology for personal development rather than use it to promote strife, hate and animosity. Analyzing the trends of hateful conducts on various social media platforms in the last few days, Hamza also expressed dismay over the increasing rate of violence against women on the internet, and appealed to social media influencers to always rise against acts capable of creating disharmony in the country. He said CITAD had recorded 319 hate contents in January with ethnicity based hate speech dominating the chart with 27 percent followed by gender based hate speech against women with 18 percent.
Culled from: Daily Trust
