Wole Ajetunmobi & Chizoba Dibor
The Federal Government says it will not reverse the recent increase of the fine for hate speech from N500,000 to N5million.
The government said the current virulent criticisms of its decision to raise the hate speech fine from different quarters would not deter it from achieving its aim of combating the menace in the general interest of the country.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated this while speaking as a guest on a Television Continental live programme monitored in Lagos on Friday.
Mohammed said that the sixth amendment to Nigeria’s Broadcast Code under which we have the fine stipulated for hate speech was already in operation and would not be reversed.
He stated that government realised that the earlier fine of N500,000 was not enough deterrence for hate speech and felt it was imperative to raise it to N5million.
The minister said although some of those opposed to the increase in the hate speech fine had “resorted to all kinds of blackmail, using hack writers”, he stressed that the government remained unperturbed because it was working in the overall interest of the country.
Following the announcement of the N5million fine for hate speech on Tuesday, many stakeholders have continued to criticise the government for taking such a step.
But Mohammed said the N5million fine for hate speech, which is part of the sixth amendment to the country’s broadcast code, was “desirable” as it would enhance the broadcast sector and protect the country from the purveyors of hate speech.
“We expected these attacks and it will not deter us. The code is already in operation. It’s been signed and sealed. Why is everybody up in arms against us? We saw it was easier to pay the N500,000 fine. This is not punitive. It is meant to guarantee national security,” he said.
He said it was not true that government was striving to stifle freedom of speech by its decision to raise the fine for hate speech.
The minister noted that other countries such as Chad, Norway, Iceland and even the United Kingdom had more stringent laws regulating hate speech, adding that South Africa had to remove hate speech from being part of the protection offered citizens by the country’s constitution.
He said no responsible government would fold its arm and allow hate speech to threaten or destroy the peace of its society, adding that the social media had continued to aggravate the problem of hate speech.
Mohammed recalled how hate speech had in the past resulted in violence, destruction and wanton killings in some countries of the world, including Rwanda and Bosnia.
On the current war against insurgency in the North East, the minister expressed regret that Nigeria was finding it difficult to get help from the developed countries in her efforts to combat terrorism.
He wondered why the developed countries had decided to withhold the necessary assistance from Nigeria in the area of military hardware to combat the Boko Haram insurgents and bandits in the North West and North Central parts of the country.