Ladies and gentlemen, there is a saying that goes thus:
"Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it."
Those with keen minds who examine some of the world's bloodiest conflicts will realise that in some measure, those conflicts were fuelled by hate speech. In Africa, perhaps the most poignant testament to this truth can be seen from the 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda. I am a Nigerian and I have to admit that the opprobrious, malicious and outrightly malevolent speech that I am seeing in my country's portion of cyberspace is scaring the excreta out of me.
There are many factors that are allowing hate speech to thrive online in Nigeria. Ignorance is chief among those factors and we must not allow that chief successfully set our hamlet, and by extension, the whole world on fire.
You might not know this but the fire that can set Nigeria ablaze has been already lit. There are men, women and children who are fuelling that fire because they do not know any better. I hear Orits Wiliki singing "gimme little time, I will fight this fire" in my head but even he alone cannot quench this fire. Besides, time is short. Friends and compatriots, if there was ever a time to heed Nigeria's call, now is the time.
I believe that with your help, we can put out the fire before it becomes a roaring, uncontrollable inferno. Online hate speech is literally a ticking time bomb and while I am no munitions expert, I am audacious enough to hope that together we can use social media to defuse that bomb.
I'm hosting an event during Social Media Week Lagos 2017 to discuss ways we can curb the spread of hate speech online. Please join me and come contribute to solving the problem. This is what democracy really was and is about. There will also be a Facebook live cast of the event and a hashtag for the event so people can join in via social media. However, if you're in Lagos on the 28th of February 2017, please join us at the Ibis Hotel on Toyin Street, Ikeja by 10am.
Thank you so much!
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