By: Mnena Iyorkegh, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Youth and Social Development Secretariat, has emphasized the need to change the negative narrative of social media to harness the opportunities it brings to economic development.
The Mandate Secretary, Mr.Abdullahi Suleiman, who stated this at the official launch of Social Media Digest, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, also explained that the sector is a necessity that can’t be avoided.
“Many people have been making money as far as social media is concerned. When you talk about social media, you are talking about a situation where everybody’s exposure is interconnected globally. To me, social media today is what I tagged double-edged sword. When you say double-edged sword, you mean something that has advantage and disadvantage. And it’s a necessary evil which can never be avoided as far as 21st century is concerned. So what we ought to be doing now is to see how we can metamorphosize the negativity of social media into positivity and opportunities. And so many people have been making money as far as social media is concerned”, he said
Noting that:
“Soocial media contributes to economic activities. We have a lot of young men and women earning millions of dollars using social media handles, platforms, and pages. And I’m very 100% correct about that. Our youth should redirect their attention to these things because at the end of the day, those ones that are positively using social media are gaining so much. Social media is generating an alternative economic wing for the country, for the world”,.he noted
Mr. Suleiman, lamented that as far as Nigeria and the world is concerned, most crises in the world are caused by social media, which calls for urgent actions to curtailing it.
He added that the Secretariat, is coming up with ideas to boost the sector.
Somebody can have a data of 20 Naira and cause a problem in his or her toilet. It is high time we should start thinking of how we can change the narrative. So what we need to do now, how do we turn all this target audience, the people that are making use of social media into something productive. For the users of social media, I’m appealing to all, make use of it positively. Some people are making money with social media, get involved in making money with social media, learn and advance on some of our technologies”.
“At Social Development Secretariat, in collaboration with youth secretaries, we are thinking of bringing what we call tech creative hub. It is a situation whereby we bring all the users of social media and see how we can make them become productive. It adds to nation building and by extension boosts the economy of the country. So when we have that opportunity in place, certainly things are going to turn around.”
The Convener, Social Media Digest, Mr. Jacob Wuse, highlights what the association stands to achieve.
“Our vision is to project the benefits of Social media the teaming population of Nigeria, especially the youths, Africa and the entire world at large. The purpose is to leverage and maximise the many benefits of social media to enlighten millions of social media users on the positive use of social media, through our social media handles”, he said
On his part, A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sebastine Hon, said Social media is a weapon of mass communication, that should be embrace by all. He therefore called on the government to introduce social media use in all schools.
“Before the regular press comes up î, the social media is one million miles ahead of the regular press. We just need to harness the positive aspects and redirect our energy to promoting all of this for political benefits. I want to advise government to take the lead of introducing social media courses right from primary school to the university, to the post-university. So that from that age, our youngsters will begin to appreciate the pros and cons of social media, the advantages and disadvantages, So that it becomes integrated into our collective psyche for the future. When you talk about social media, social media is all about the youth”, he said
According to the Director Tourism, Social Development and Secretariat, Ann Dogo, the social media legislations, is a crucial platform for engaging social media users and the responsible use of this powerful tool in shaping our society.
“Social media plays a vital role in our daily lives, influencing perceptions and driving narratives. As residents and stakeholders in the federal capital territory, we have a collective responsibility to project the positive developments.Their commitment to delivering impactful projects and reforms desires recognition and amplification through the responsible social media engagement. The service is timely and essential. It will provide an avenue to educate, inspire, and challenge social media users to not only harness the platform for good, but also counter negative narratives that hinder our collective progress,” she said
Social Media Digest, is a Non Governmental Organisation, working hard to promote impactful and positive use of Social Media platforms by users.
