By Joseph Kingston, Calabar

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it is partnering the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to ensure hate speeches, particularly in the social media, are reduced to the barest minimum.

The executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the NCC, Engr. Umar Garba Danbatta, made this known in Calabar Wednesday while opening a two-day workshop on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Utilization and Sustainability for South South Zone, organised by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), a unit within the NCC.

Represented by the Head of Strategy and Corporate Performance of the Universal Service Provision Fund, Kelechi Nwankwo, Danbatta said NCC would ensure that the cyberspace was sanitised in order not to endanger the peace of the country.

“There is a cyber-crime law which is being operated between the NCC and the office of the national security adviser, which is being managed by the later. There are several things people want but if they are not in the law or in the Act, there is nothing one can do.

“We need to make sure that people get information and not restrict it but, in doing that, people need self-regulation for social media activities. People should be mindful of what they post; there should be no hate speech, and then they should take responsibilities for what they are putting on the net,” the NCC boss said.

According to him, the NCC was currently implementing an 8-point agenda with the strategic vision of 2015-2020 which, he explained, includes promoting innovation, investment, competition and consumer empowerment “in and on top of the communications platforms of today and the future.”

The NCC boss believed that the workshop would afford participants the opportunity of interacting with the USPF in identifying sustainable solutions for two key projects, which he identified as the Community Resource Center (CRC) and School Knowledge Center (SKC), noting that it was intended to develop their capacity.

Orientaldailynews