The presiding bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, David Oyedepo, has backed the Federal Government’s plan to regulate social media.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has asked the House of Representatives to enact a law to regulate social and online media in Nigeria.
Mohammed made this known on Wednesday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics, and Values on a bill to amend the NBC act.
The minister asked the lawmakers to amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) act to empower the agency to regulate social and online media.
Bishop Oyedepo had in 2019 kicked against the regulation of social media, stressing that it was archaic to attempt regulating social media.
But speaking on Friday at the seventh convocation of Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara state, the cleric stated that unlimited access to social media platforms is robbing youths of their future.
According to him, many young people spend most of their time chatting, with lesser time to engage in productive tasks.
“It unconsciously robs people of their future by robbing them of their time — no time to think; no time to plan; no time to programme,” Oyedepo said.
“This generation may lose her heroes to social media disaster. Here is one creeping serpent that is eating up the destinies of many individuals.
“We must wake up from our slumber to deal with this monster. Young people, beware! Addiction to social media is like addiction to drugs. It can render a whole destiny useless.
“This social media saga has eroded the substance of destiny of most youths today. What is supposed to be a plus has suddenly become a major minus, because everything of value delivers through investment of time.
“Suddenly, we are faced with a generation on the wrong side of history; the honour of this generation has been wiped off — chatting all day with no time left to think, plan, programme and engage productively in the pursuit of any task.
“Many youths spend less than 10 to 20 percent of their time on their tasks per day. They can never match a generation that spends 70 percent to 80 percent of their time on their tasks.
“We must devise means to put a check on free access to social media, particularly those that are not adding values. Life is a race. Everyone should get on the track, ready for the run of their lives.”
