Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C, TY Buratai Block, Abuja. There were two presentations made by the Subject Experts on South America, the Carribean, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
The first presentation by Brig Gen SA Gumel subject experts on South America and the Carribean Centered his presentation on how Cuban Authorities Have Sentenced a Young Mother to 15 Years in Prison for Live-Streaming a Protest and hate Speech on Social Media. On 19 May 2024, Nora Gámez Torres reported on TNS that a young mother in Cuba, Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, 23, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for live-streaming a protest on Facebook. She was charged with sedition and spreading hate speech and enemy propaganda. Mayelin Prado filmed a demonstration in Nuevitas during August 2022 blackout, calling for the lights to be turned on and chanting for freedom. Alongside Mayelin, 12 other demonstrators received sentences ranging from 4 to 14 years.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen SA Gumel noted that, hate speech in Nigeria could be regarded as any form of communication that disparage individuals or groups based on attributes such as race, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, gender, or disability, and is intended to incite hatred or violence. This type of speech is particularly harmful in Nigeria’s diverse society, where it exacerbates existing security and socio-economic tensions that may result into violence and social disorder. Similarly, social media propaganda in Nigeria involves the use of online platforms to spread misleading, biased, or manipulated information with the intent of influencing public perception and behavior. This practice often involves the dissemination, often of emotionally charged contents that can polarize communities and sway public opinions.
He recommended that, the FGN should enhance legal frameworks and ensure strong enforcement of sanctions to address the use of fake news and hate speech on social media for improved democratic governance and also develop digital processes and capabilities to effectively monitor, detect, remove and regulate contents that checkmate the spread of fake news, hate speech and propaganda on social media.
While the Second presentation by Brig Gen SO Oloyede Subject experts on Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, focused his presentation on United States and Britain Strike Houthi Rebel Targets in Yemen. On 31 May 2024, Associated Press (AP) reported that Joint British-US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others. The Houthis, an Iran-backed group rooted in Shia Islamism and based in Yemen, gained momentum during the Arab Spring movement in 2011 (Morgan, 2024). Prior to the Arab Spring, the Houthis had begun an insurgency against the government of Yemen, using terrorist tactics as their main mode of operation.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen SO Oloyede stressed that, similarly, the ethno religious coloration of Boko Haram at inception made it difficult for FGN to clamp down heavily on it, thereby allowing the group to grow in strength beyond imagination. The group is responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and north eastern regions of Nigeria, as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. It has killed thousands of people since 2009. Consequently, the US Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization on November 14, 2013. Nevertheless, Nigeria could learn a lesson that insurgency and terrorism not nipped in the bud could impact a nation’s national security adversely.
He recommended that, the Federal Government of Nigeria should adopt a national strategy in line with Nigeria’s National Security Strategy to eradicate insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria and also the Federal Ministry of Information in conjunction with NOA should embark on media operations to counter insurgents’ propaganda and AFN should continue to employ both kinetic and non-kinetic lines of operation in its war against terrorism and insurgency.
