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| Lai Mohammed, Information Minister |
The Federal Government yesterday debunked the reports that
the Ministry of Interior was monitoring the phone calls and social media posts
of the country’s citizens. A statement by the Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed described the allegation as another example of
disinformation that had permeated the media space.
The Special Assistant to the Minister, Segun Adeyemi, said
the intention of those behind the false news was to label the Federal
Government as working to stifle the freedom of speech in the country.
He said: ‘’There is no regulation, old or new, from the
Ministry of Interior or any Federal Government agency that required the
recording of calls or the monitoring of social media platforms such as
WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook.
“We are therefore using this medium to inform all Nigerians
that what is being circulated in this regard is totally false and should be
disregarded.” He commended all patriotic citizens who had reached out to the
government to confirm the authenticity of the information, which is now being
widely circulated in the social media.According to the report, all phone calls
would be recorded and saved, including communications made through Whatsapp,
Twitter and Facebook. It added that all devices had been connected to the
Interior Ministry’s systems and urged parents to warn their children against
their wrong usage.
The Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu also denied
such claims. He told The Guardian that he was “not aware of such regulation and
I don’t think there could be such. It may, however, has to do with security.
But I doubt if there is anything of such.”
A top official at the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC), who did not want his name in print, said such alegislation could not
work in a democratic setting, except in a military regime.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to
lead a protest against phone tapping or any indiscriminate arrests made in
that regard.
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