STAKEHOLDERS at a radio programme on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to embrace social media technology and incorporate citizens’ voices in the fight against corruption.
Head of the Mission at Leadership and Accountability Initiative Nwazuluhu Shield said this during an anti-corruption radio programme, Public Conscience on Radio, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG) in Abuja.
Shield described social media as a truth-telling tool and urged President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to embrace its use in the fight against corruption instead of impeding the usage.
He added that citizen journalism should be applauded and encouraged as it often went a long way in exposing acts of corruption perpetrated by Nigerians.
“The fight against corruption depends largely on intelligence gathering and intelligence gathering involves citizens. There’s a nation beyond politics. What we encourage the government to do is to show sincerity, and that is the only way citizens will buy into their anti-corruption fight.”
Concerning low patronage in the fight against corruption, Shield said, “This government is scared of social media because social media has been the only opposition they have had since 2015. We used social media to refuse them pass the anti-social media bill. Social media is the reason why today in the National Assembly, there is a bill on electronic transmission of results; Social media is a tool that says the truth, and any sincere government should embrace social media.”
He also emphasised that the anti-corruption agencies in the country should be totally independent of political influence.
Also speaking during the radio programme,
a social media influencer and blogger Mark Amaza said social media and technology had given millions of Nigerians voice and opportunity to put forward their grievances and air their frustrations to the government.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program used by PRIMORG, to measure citizens’ pulse on crucial issues and draw government attention to them. The MacArthur Foundation supports the programme.
A reporter with the ICIR
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