Despite the worsening state of insecurity in Nigeria, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has described Nigeria as the safest country to live in the world.
The Minister stated this when he received the Finland Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Jyrki Pulkkimen and his team, who were on a courtesy visit in his office on Monday, February 3, 2020.
However, the current US State Department Travel Advisory for Nigeria categorises the country on Level 3, its second worst classification for any country.
The categorisation partly reads;
“Reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and maritime crime, which includes kidnappings, hijackings, boardings, theft, etc. Some areas have increased risk. Read the entire Travel Advisory.
Do Not Travel to:
- Borno and Yobe States and Northern Adamawa State due to terrorism
- Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, and Yobe states due to kidnapping
- Coastal areas of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Delta, and Rivers states (with the exception of Port Harcourt) due to crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and maritime crime”
Mohammed also noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government had not infringed on the freedom of speech or rights of individuals.
The Minister noted the government was only sanitising the media on hate speech and abuse of the freedom of speech.
“The hate speech bill is not an attempt to clip the media. So also the social media regulation which is only to sensitise and not deny the rights of individuals,” he said.
Mohammed restated that whatever is tolerated on the streets would be accepted online.
According to him, the government, through the Ministry of Information, had begun the fight against hate speech since 2017.
The Minister maintained that if people were allowed to do whatever they want on social media in Nigeria, with diversity of religion and political interests, there will be chaos.
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