As some (or most or all) Nigerians say, ‘English is not our mother tongue’. Thus, it is perfectly understandable that our communication in that alien tongue is often less than precise. However, precise and clear communication is vital to a functioning society. If suddenly in traffic, red meant ‘go’ to some and green meant ‘stop’ to others, society would collapse. So when we say ‘social media’, it is vital that we know what it means.
Social media are our means of mass communication. Some are electronic, the vast majority are analogue and ancient: letters, for example.
Social media is not Twitter, Facebook or their peers. Those are social media internet platforms. They are like virtual village town hall meetings or an online version of ‘Free Readers of Nigeria’ discussing the headlines at the newspaper vendor’s stall. Restricting the meaning of social media to internet-based platforms is the equivalent of confusing a car for movement.
Uthman dan Fodio conducted what today would be called a ‘social media campaign’ with his pen, paper, and couriers: fast horse riders and skilled users of the ‘Legedes Benz’. The ‘fake news’ (rumour) of Sani Abacha’s fateful bite of the forbidden fruit also precedes the invention of social media internet platforms.
Social media, like a mirror, reveals our innermost thoughts, yearnings and urges. It, therefore, reflects what society thinks and what it says. It is us, but with no filter. Out of the abundance of the heart, the hand tweets.
It is unsurprising that some Nigerians are repulsed by the reflection in the mirror. Nigerians, they say, are purveyors of ‘fake news’. But did we need the saga of Jubril al-Sudani and his journey to Aso Rock to know that? Have we forgotten that millions died because of what was believed to be the ‘Igbo coup’ of January 1966, despite the participation of a cross-section of Nigerians? Logically, if the 1966 coup was Igbo, then the continent-slaying Super Eagles of 2013, captained by Vincent Enyeama and coached by Stephen Keshi, was Igbo too.
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The Nigerian Northern Governors Forum recently ‘took note of the devastating effect of the uncontrolled social media’. How devastating is it compared to the untrammelled crime, extreme mass poverty, low life expectancy and undignified life in camps for internally displaced persons that Nigerians endure and have endured in the past?
I will take to my death bed the opinion that all our challenges are reflections on us and our inability to reflect.
The Catholic saint, Phillip of Neri, once imposed a particular penance on a female gossip. She was to go to market, buy a chicken, pluck and drop its feathers on her way home and then try to gather them again. She failed. The moral of the story is that actions, once taken, cannot be undone. All that is left is to endure the consequences.
Social media holds up a mirror to who we are. If we dislike that image, then one of the great benefits of society is that we can change. ‘Regulation’ of social media will not improve its output but a more refined society will. Not too long ago, we glanced into the Nigerian mirror and saw how polio stole from millions their full potential. It took time and effort, but we beat polio. Let it never be said that Nigerians are incapable of changing their situation.
I am a firm believer in the idea of life as comprising a series of choices. Making good choices is seizing the strategic positions from which we can push forward to greater success.
Edifying social media output requires a changed society. The first step starts with individual Nigerians who can choose to shun the circus of trends and hashtags and retreat to oases of considered opinion and sober reflection. We should always think of the consequences of our words before we speak. In arguments, we should assume the best intention of others. Also, we may want to consider that we are wrong if our only response is an insult.
Those of us granted the privilege of leadership, in addition to heeding the above, should try to imagine a future different from our present. Why not grant the best performers in each academic year membership in the Order of the Niger? Why not have our State Broadcasters sound less like the government gazette and more like independent institutions committed to informing Nigerians? If a government is afraid of being embarrassed, shouldn’t it see it as a motive to behave better? Why not have researchers fan out across the country to record our many proverbs and folktales? They could be broadcasted, animated, even tweeted. Why can’t the government, long story short, commit to elevating the social space it occupies to a place wise and good? A place that unites, and inspires our positive qualities.
The various problems that plague our social media cannot be solved by seeking to constrain the darkness. That would only leave us floundering in the dark. Our problems can only be solved by lighting a light and sustaining it until the darkness is driven away. Darkness or light, which way, Nigeria?
Emmanuel-Francis is a Nigerian by conviction
