Since the year 2000, Nigeria has experienced radical increase in the rate of internet users. A greater number of Nigerians experienced a kind of exposure that would not have been possible without the internet. Social media was
not left out in this party in fact it accelerated the rate of publicity been given to the News outlet, entertainment world and Social networks etc. Hmm am I forgetting something here?... Hmmmm A-ha it brought us closer to the government itself, within a few minutes a handful of Nigerians get to hear what happened some minutes ago in Abuja, we became close to each other although we are hundreds of miles away, without mincing words we experienced a boom both in our lives as an individual and the country at-large but it is frightening to say we are breeding a seed which will turn out to be a hydra-headed monster that will consume us all. Internet is now a breeding ground for ethnic bashing, it has been a tool of misinformation, it is now a breeding ground for terrorists and militancy. Our case is now that of a child who consumes sweetener neglecting the effect on the teeth. It's obvious to a blind man the level of hatred being brewed up in most of our popular sites. If nothing is done about it in no distant time we will all be in a mess. Just like the Far-Famed Nigerian singer Asa said in one of her songs,
not left out in this party in fact it accelerated the rate of publicity been given to the News outlet, entertainment world and Social networks etc. Hmm am I forgetting something here?... Hmmmm A-ha it brought us closer to the government itself, within a few minutes a handful of Nigerians get to hear what happened some minutes ago in Abuja, we became close to each other although we are hundreds of miles away, without mincing words we experienced a boom both in our lives as an individual and the country at-large but it is frightening to say we are breeding a seed which will turn out to be a hydra-headed monster that will consume us all. Internet is now a breeding ground for ethnic bashing, it has been a tool of misinformation, it is now a breeding ground for terrorists and militancy. Our case is now that of a child who consumes sweetener neglecting the effect on the teeth. It's obvious to a blind man the level of hatred being brewed up in most of our popular sites. If nothing is done about it in no distant time we will all be in a mess. Just like the Far-Famed Nigerian singer Asa said in one of her songs,
"...one day the river willOverflow, and there willWill be nowhere for usto go and we will run,run wishing we had putthe fire...".
Hundreds of our younger generation are being indoctrinated into this occult, an Ibo child is been told the horrific story of the civil war, he is been taught to despise an Hausa man and term a Yoruba man a coward and backstabber, The Hausa man sees both the Ibos and Yorubas as infidels and is very quick to resort to violence at any slightest exasperation , the Yoruba man who sees both the Ibo's and Hausa man as a tenant in his land .all this gave rise to Ethnic consciousness that left one with no other option than to defend his/her ethnic group in any case of misunderstanding not withstanding who is at fault. It's pertinent to ask how did we plunge to this level of darkness ? I will tell you this, Our politicians are to be blamed. They can do anything to win election even if it means exterminating a whole village they will do it without blinking an eye. They have succeeded in turning us against each other for their selfish purpose. We carry the same animosity straight to the internet hereby creating a steam online, OK enough of my ranting, We need internet censorship to curb this Madness, this is where the legislative comes in, we need stronger laws not to interfere with the free flow of information but to guard against malicious slander, libel,E-fighting,piracy and yahoo-yahoo(419)etc. What we fail to understand is that developed countries has laws guarding the internet it's still amaze me that we don't have a viable one, when the bill for the enactments of Nigerian cyber crime act was made known to the public, the media house was very quick to raise false alarm because they were too lazy for investigative journalism which is a task they must indulge in. The effect of this outpour led to a national outcry against the purported bill. Many people didn't bother to look up the content of the bill, that's where we the mass lost it again. Everything in Nigeria is political, Everybody raised dust that was very quick to overcloud us all. For Christ sake this is the first ever statutory instrument criminalizing online actions prescribing punishment and creating legal procedures for investigation, prosecution and enforcement. From what I can deduce this bill didn't start with this present administration as a matter of fact we have a long history of lengthy, tortuous and complicated legislative history, permit me to outline it for the sake of deeper knowledge.
* 2004/2005- cyber crime bill 2005 by Nigerian cyber crime group(NCWG).
*2006-2008 - Computer security bill.
*2009-2010- More than 10 different. bills(including the Electronic fraud protection bill sponsored by Senator. Ayo Arise of Elite state).
*2011- harmonization of various bills by the ONSA culminated in the Cyber Security bill 2011.
*2012-2015 - Attorney General initiated a. process resulting to Cyber Crime Act 2015.
The former Attorney General would have done a better job at this but it was so unfortunate. You can imagine the very first day Dr. ibe Kachikwu was appointed the NNPC director was the same day the company issued a public alert about a group of fraudsters operating a facebook account impersonating their director, sending all manners of scam letters, soliciting for fund and dishing out phantom contracts.This level of impunity is deep rooted.
The principles around the cyber crime legislation requires the law focus on
1, Computer-related offences
2, Content related offences
3, Computer integrity offences
4, jurisdiction and procedural issues
5, international harmonization/relations
What really influences our online behaviors? Let me point out the motivations taxonomy
* political - Sabotage,Espionage,propaganda, protest* Emotional - boredom, hate, revenge and obsession
* infromational/promotional- draw attention to Potenial security failures,disseminating the truth,freedom of iinformation, instigating a world wide debate
* Ideological - freedom of information,protest and opposition,religious beliefs ,terrorism.
* financial -fraud monetary gains, identity theft, extortion, money laundering. * Commercial - Economic/industrial espionage,tradesecrets/intellectual,property theft, attack against competitors
* personal-self-amusement,self-actualization, intellectual challenge, need to prove oneself, need to prove ones technical proficiency.
* Exploitation -Child pornography, extortion, harassment, causing emotional distress.
All these influences our behaviour online, in as much as there are laws governing us offline there must be one governing us online. I strongly believe that this will go a long way in minimizing the rate of internet crime in Nigeria
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