This may not be a piece of good news for avid users of Internet-based social networking sites in the country as the Bureau of Public Enterprises has said it is planning to roll out policies and the legal framework for the regulation of social media.
The Director-General of the privatisation agency, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, made the disclosure at a retreat for non-management staff members of the organisation, according to a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday by the spokesman, BPE, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe.
At the retreat, which held at Kuchikau, Nasarawa State, Dikki condemned the practice of uploading offensive materials on the various social media platforms without any regulation.
He said the plan for regulation was in line with the BPE’s reform mandate to initiate necessary policies and the legal framework for the regulation of the social media in the country.
“As it now obtains, all manner of things are uploaded on the various platforms of the social media without recourse to age and sensibilities of the users. This is not good enough,” he said.
Dikki, who was responding to insinuations that the agency had a lifespan that would end after the privatisation of government enterprises in the various sectors, told the workers to brace for the task ahead as the agency had post-privatisation mandate to carry out reforms in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Citing the telecommunications sector for instance, the director-general said despite the reforms that led to the liberalisation of the sector, much still needed to be done to check incidences of drop calls and excessive and illegal billings.
While noting that the BPE had made tremendous impact on the economy, Dikki charged the workers not to relent, stressing that as a cerebral, innovative and knowledge-based organisation, BPE employees should always be thinking and come up with ideas that could develop the economy.
The BPE boss pledged his commitment to staff welfare and informed the workers that all pending welfare issues were being handled with his principals.