IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA – AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY RT HON ESEME EYIBOH AT THE 1st EKET SENATORIAL DISTRICT MEDIA HANGOUT HOSTED BY THE COALITION OF ONLINE PUBLISHERS, BLOGGERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS.
PROTOCOLS!
Let me begin by saying how delighted I am to have been invited to this maiden edition of the Eket Senatorial District media hangout. I do not take it for granted that I am invited to share my thoughts and my presence here today is a memento to the fact that I appreciate the great work this coalition is doing in controlling the political narrative in the social space. Thank you Once again.
INTRODUCTION
“If we are going to talk about the most recent of the “Indignados” movements in several countries of the world, including Europe, those are social movements but eventually they will evolve into political movements….”
The above quote is credited to Alejandro Castro, a cousin of Fidel Castro; a renowned Author and a Cuban Political and Military figure. A proper analysis of the above quote will set a tone for today’s discussion on Democracy and social Media.
Alejandro in the quote above appreciates the role that social movements play in the political movement of Cuba, he even goes ahead to predict that most of these social groups will end up becoming political movements. His Prediction extended to more of such movements globally. I cannot agree less with him on his propositions, only that his idea may not have captured the idea of a social movement beyond physical gatherings. Today, we know for a fact that sociality is even better appreciated media wise. (All thanks to the various Social media Platforms we have today and more still springing up). So what we have established and will be evaluating critically will be on the various ways through which social movements can influence Democracy of Nigeria.
Abraham Lincoln had defined Democracy as “A Government of the People, by the People and for the People” . This definition is not only popular, but also very descriptive of what democracy entails. I will be adopting the definition as a guide and analyzing the components parts independently in line with our topic for discourse today.
A Government of the people means that those who make up the Government do not fall from the high heavens but emerges from among the mass of citizens.
A Government by the people entails that the persons in Government are selected and chosen by the mass of citizens.
A Government for the people entails that the Government do not exist to govern angels in heaven or demons in their covens but the mass of the citizenry from which they emerged.
Statistically, there are about 201 million Nigerians, about 83.4 million of that population accesses their information through social media, and over 70 percent of that population is the youths. I am particularly happy that I am addressing a vast fraction of that percentage today, aaaaand not just the users of social media but those who influence same through their engagements and wide followership.
It is important to note that social media is distinct from the mainstream media (Television, Radio and the Print media) because it makes use of web based technology in enabling users to access and download information in various formats and interacts with each other regardless of distance and time. I totally avoided the risk of engaging in robust and technical definitions of what a social media is because seated before me today are core professionals as far as this social media business is concerned.
Let us now evaluate clearly how this phenomenon called social media has impacted on democracy in Nigeria. Now democracy does not just exist in oblivion, there are globally accepted tenets and principles that govern the concept. I will discuss 3 basic tenets here and how social media has impacted on it.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNANCE
This takes us back to the second limb of Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy which is a Government by the people. In the narrow sense this will mean that citizens should participate in the electoral process that sees to the emergence of a government, however in a broader sense it also entails that everyone becomes a part of the governing process. Now social media has greatly influenced democracy in this regard. The citizens now participate in governance by sharing their opinions on issues that concern nation building and most office holders are now careful with the way they carry on their official function as they can be called to order on the streets of social media.
THE RULE OF LAW
The major issue that challenges democracy in Nigeria has been the reckless ridicule of law and order. Now more than ever, social media has helped to bring the law closer to the people. Recently, we have seen situations in this country where political office holders will want to hide behind the cloak of public office to break the law. However, we have seen that such acts are quickly exposed on social media and the law will then have opportunity of being implemented fully in such a situation.
POLITICAL TOLERANCE
One goal of democracy is to make the best possible decision for the society. To achieve this, respect for all people and their points of view is needed. Decisions are more likely to be accepted, even by those who oppose them, if all citizens have been allowed to discuss, debate and question them. On this tenet, we have seen that social media seems to have impacted on political tolerance negatively. It has become a recurrent issue in our democracy that social media influencers and political media handlers do not treat the views and contributions of persons from the opposing party or political group with the least tolerance. Once there is a post that does not support their political leader and or pay masters then social media handlers will engage in politics of mud smearing on the media. This is a great threat to the tenet of democracy on political tolerance.
CONCLUSION
As I bring this conversation to a close, it can be seen that social media has impacted both positively and negatively on democracy in Nigeria. It is a double sided coin that can foment strife or pull together positive values for the overall progress of our country. It is settled that the social media has a greater advantage over and above the Main stream media especially as it has to do with accessibility, coverage, and speed.
You, as influencers must choose to belong to the elite band of people who toss the coin in the right direction. The weight of history is on your shoulders and your role can be likened to an x-ray machine exposing fractures in the skeleton of the society we have built. From the comfort of your homes, the capacity to break the vicious cycle of corruption and increase the power of the people to keep check on the people in power is in your hands. There is hope and an enormous potential of what you all can achieve, if you trust in the power of your hindsight, the reliability of your insight and the assurance of your forsight.
Thank you for the honour and pleasure of the invitation and your kind company.
ESE
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