People Talk: On FG raising hate speech fine from N500,000 to N5m
This is enslavement! It’s an anti-democratic tool. If people can no longer have freedom of speech, it will sabotage the main responsibility of political watchdogs.
“Most times, what they tag hate speech is criticism to put government in check. Lawmakers should scrutinize the contents of this bill to preserve our democracy.” —Opeyemi Ogungbe, Educator
“Nigeria is under a democratic government, so people have the right to air their views on how they feel about things. The FG is out of line here.
“This is not a military system and as such, the FG should not force their opinion on innocent citizens. With the current hardship in the country, people are entitled to air their feelings and not be silenced.” —Memudu Oluwatoyosi, Entrepreneur
“What constitutes hate speech? Personally, I don’t see a need for the hate speech bill and fine. They should focus on fixing the country and see hate speech die a natural death.
“Also, instead of having hate speech bill, they should penalize fake news merchants.” —Usoh John, Civil Servant
“I perceive that the decision to raise the fine to N5m is an attempt by the Federal Government to limit freedom of speech, a fundamental right of Nigerians as enshrined in the Constitution of the country.” —Ogunkunle Emmanuel, Content Creator
“Increased hate speech fine is good because it will help reduce the rate at which people broadcast hate speech on air and social media. Government should not see this as an avenue to embezzle funds or accuse innocent people of hate speech in order to get more people to pay fine.” —Adegboye Theophilus, Accountant
