Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday advised leaders of different faith to be careful with the use of social media in order to avoid promoting conflicts.
The vice-president gave the advice during interfaith religious dialogue on promoting religious tolerance and acceptance organised by the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Embassy in Abuja.
He said: “I want to say in particular that we absolutely need to be careful with our use of social media. If we do not want to promote the kind of conflict that can completely go out of hand, we must be sure that we are policing ourselves and regulating ourselves on social media.
“I don’t think that government regulation is necessarily the way to go. But I believe that persons of faith, as leaders and those of us who use social media actively, owe a responsibility to our society and to everyone else to ensure that we don’t allow it to become an instrument of conflict and war.
“Recently, I was sharing at a gathering about my aunty, an 81-year-old lady who thought I had resigned. Sometime before the elections, news went round that I had resigned my appointment as Vice-President; the news went round on social media, including WhatsApp.
“My aunt insisted that I had resigned because the news was on WhatsApp. I had to explain to her that I didn’t resign, even if the news was on WhatsApp.
“It was Rev. Sister Agatha who mentioned (in one of the panel discussions today) that if we are not careful, most people are not discerning enough to tell fact from fiction.
“Depending on what it is that you are spreading, if you choose to spread the sort of news that can create real conflict and religious misinformation, which is the worst sort, it can create the kind of conflict that can completely get out of hand and jeopardize all of our lives, livelihood and property.
“It is important that we keep self-regulating and ensuring that we don’t lend our platforms to those who would promote conflict.”
Also, Osinbajo on Thursday called for private sector support in helping the Education sector adapt to technology.
He spoke at the opening of Union Bank’s Edu360 exhibition at the Union Bank Sports Club, Surulere, Lagos.
Delivering his keynote address on the theme: Education Beyond Walls, Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said: “As a government, we will continue to welcome technology inclusion in education. Technology inclusion in education cannot be done by the government alone. We welcome other partners may be hear and are working in the tech ecosystem.”
The vice-president praised Union Bank for organising the three-day event, which featured parents’ panel sessions, teacher training, coding classes for pupils, besides exhibition from 70 businesses tailored to the Education sector.
Union Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Emeka Emuwa, the bank’s Head of Commercial Banking, Mr. Kunle Sonola and other members of the Board of Directors attended the event.
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