‘Use social media to fight extremism in North-East’

The North East Regional Initiatives (NERI) has charged Nigerians to use social media as effective communication tools to end extremism occasioned by insurgency in the NorthEast.

The group made the call at the just concluded social media week held in Lagos.

It said there is need for the government and concerned Nigerians to develop new social media communication strategy which currently is lacking to battle violence in Nigeria. According to NERI, the programme was born out of the need to empathize with their brothers and sisters from north east Nigeria who have faced widespread destruction and displacement as a result of violent extremism.

According to Muhammad Fraser Rahim, executive Director, Quilliam International, “Nigeria is not the only country going through such extremism but that the global challenge is real and that the recent abduction, whether it was Boko Haram or not, recognized that a group was able to disrupt the lives of citizens in the north east and that is a problem for everyone irrespective of your tribe, state or residence.”

Also, Mrs Hamsatu Allamin, a former director, Nigeria Stability Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), noted that she, together with some women, had initiated different programmes to end violence in the region.

“Children will tell you how to couple a gun together, we need to sit up and do real work, government is only concerned on humanitarian intervention, certain actions have to be taken,” she said.