Why you need to promote the freedom of expression in Nigeria

Freedom of expression is an essential part of a functioning, inclusive and free society. People should be free to express themselves both offline and online in a democratic society but Nigeria is practically yet to achieve this due to threat and other structural factors that inhibits it. See what Punch wrote about freedom of expression and social media policing here.

There are so many cases of the inhibition of the freedom of expression in Nigeria. Few of those cases reported are those of Deji Adeyanju, Segun Oribiyo and Martins Alo.

I perceive this is due to the fact that many people aren’t aware of their rights to freedom of expression and that of information.

Imagine that you are not satisfied with the way governments are mismanaging fund and you cannot voice out against it. Imagine that there is injustice in the country and when you speak against it, you are thrown into prison.

In case you don’t know, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, grants to everyone the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of borders (Article 19).

This means that you are permitted to air your opinion without being discriminated both offline and online.

Do you know about the freedom of expression act and freedom of information act too? If your answer is NO, it means you are not aware, like many Nigerians, about these laws. If you are aware, please leave a comment after this post.

If such freedom is not promoted, soon, we will lose our voices. It means the government and other powerful people will do as they like without us having a say.

It means we can be stopped from using social media or the internet in general without us having a say. Now, that we still have our voices, let’s amplify it. If not, we can even miss the opportunity of marketing our businesses on social media and other media.

I challenge you today to find out more about freedom of expression and promote it for the good of all.

Are you a lawyer, activist, media professional or an individual interested in promoting freedom of expression? Let’s build a formidable community of like-minds to promote freedom of expression. Please, drop your comment or contribution below.