The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has urged the House of Representatives to pass laws regulating internet broadcasting and social media in Nigeria including Twitter which it recently banned in Nigeria.
The government also seeks powers for the National Broadcasting Commission to regulate prices, rates and tariffs imposed by satellite and cable television service providers in the country.
The Minister made the call at the public hearing on a bill to amend the NBC Act organised by the House Committee on Information in Abuja on Wednesday.
“I will want to add, that specifically, internet broadcasting and all online media should be included in this because we have responsibility to monitor content— including Twitter,” he said.
The recommendation by the Minister was opposed by others who spoke at the hearing.
The Executive Director of the Institute of Media and Societies, Akin Akingulu lamented the lack of independence for NBC.
He called for more powers to be stripped from the Minister of Information and the independence of NBC should be guaranteed.
Akingulu also called for the confirmation of the Director-General of the NBC by the National Assembly.
He noted that the inclusion of Twitter and others as “categories of broadcasting services licences will be injurious to the civics space, freedom of expression and media freedom in Nigeria.”