The Federal Government of Nigeria may be considering the establishment of a body that will regulate the use of social media in the country.

The recommendation for the setting up of the body was made by the National Council on Information (NCI) as part of the communiqué issued at the end of its extraordinary meeting in Jos which dwelt on the subject, ‘Hate Speeches, Fake News and National Unity.’

The council meeting which was presided over by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed suggested the use of stringent measures to curtail the activities of all unconventional media and their programmes.

It also recommended the opening of a website by information managers at state levels that would immediately counter any false report or misinformation posted on any social media site.

The NCI further added that any news assumed or presumed to be false, reeking of hate speeches or full of misinformation should be nipped in the bud before it goes viral on various social media. The council believed that the social media is capable of taking over the 2019 elections as Nigerians have come to rely on and believe in the stories being churned out by these sites on a daily basis.