COVER
The Use of Social Media and the Costs to the Economy
By Nick Agule
Recently I had a need to access the WhatsApp group for my class at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh in Surrey, England, and the last time a post was made in the group was on July 20, 2021!
Instructively it’s important to note that the Admin of this group (which I am one of them) did not need to make any rules about what members are to post and what not to post to the group.
There was no need for the Admin to threaten sanctions against erring members.
Since the group is for a class at the Seminary, people on their own volition post only matters related to the class. Even the Queen’s husband died, there is Covid in the land, Boris Johnson is doing or not doing what is expected of him, an MP was murdered, birthdays have come and gone, anniversaries have been celebrated, jokes are there, daily or Sunday sermons are preached but from July to November (5 months) no single message was posted to the group about these happenings in England because nobody had anything RELATED TO THE GROUP to post as there are groups for different purposes! The Admin have not been busy monitoring the group so that violators will be sanctioned!The discipline of WhatsApp group members as highlighted above is totally at variance with the usage of the app in Nigeria where despite different WhatsApp groups been setup for different purposes, members post any and everything under the sun to all groups regardless of the aims and objectives of the groups.
The Admin for Nigerian WhatsApp groups first have to make rules on what to post or not but these rules are blatantly disobeyed and the Admins are always busy scanning through hundreds or even thousands of messages to police the groups.The sad thing is that the violators of these simple rules are expected to be responsible citizens such as mothers and fathers, professors, medical doctors, lawyers, accountants, military and police officers etc. Even the clergy and religious are not left out either.
When a typical Nigerian WhatsApp account is accessed, it is common to see hundreds of messages waiting in so many groups but 99% of these messages are forwarded, there is hardly anything original! People are lazy and cannot think, compose and write original thoughts on anything! It is like we all now have PhDs in forwarding technology.
The worst part is that we don’t even bother to double check, do due diligence or confirm the contents of the messages we are forwarding thus have unknowingly turned ourselves into accomplices of criminals who are out to harm people online. So, clear 419 job adverts with a url such as www.nigeriajobs.com/firs purporting to be FIRS recruitment is quickly forwarded and goes viral very quickly.
Common cybersense should warn that the domain name nigeriajobs.com is not the official FIRS domain which is www.firs.gov.ng and that the nigeriajobs.com domain name though with an extension /fir does not and cannot make it official FIRS publication.
The other terrible thing with Nigerians use of WhatsApp is that our sense of cybersecurity is zero! WhatsApp has made it possible that you can transfer your account from one phone to another. When you want to do this transfer, WhatsApp will send a code to the old phone which you are to apply to the new phone to move your WhatsApp account to the new phone. Now when criminals get your number (which we supply freely on social media when someone says they want to dash free data or things like that) they setup a WhatsApp account on their phone using your number.
WhatsApp thinks it’s you who wants to transfer your account, so a code is sent to your phone. The criminal needs that code to steal your WhatsApp account, so the criminal puts a bold call to you and says there’s an online meeting bla bla and they need you to send them the code so that they’ll register you for the meeting. Profs, Drs, Barrs etc without interrogating this criminal just read out the code to them! Once the criminal enters the code on their phone, your WhatsApp account has left your phone to the criminal’s phone. People in your group will just see a message that your number has changed to so and so number.
The criminal is busy reading all your WhatsApp messages, if they have enough information they can steal your money in the bank, they also infiltrate your WhatsApp groups and begin to call more people asking them for codes. Some of the criminals even blackmail you for ransoms if they see shady dealings in your WhatsApp messages. With your WhatsApp account in their hands, there are endless possibilities of what crime they can perpetrate with your data.
Anytime someone posts on social media that their accounts have been hacked and advising friends are to beware, it is a confirmation that they behaved recklessly online and thus allowed some miseducated liferals to scam them. Simple cybersecurity defence measures like 2-factor authentication would have mitigated against such a risk!
The Downsides of the Abuse of WhatsApp Groups:
Unfortunately, the abuse of social media platforms such as WhatsApp in Nigeria has negative implications for the individuals, businesses and the nation including the following.
1. Too much junk forwarded to WhatsApp groups keeps Nigerians always on their phones scrolling through the messages because there’s just too much garbage which people have to sieve through to avoid missing something important. People sit in important meetings and functions but are fixated on their phones. People are on social outings, but they aren’t talking to each other because they are on their phones! Parents are paying no attention to kids because the phones are engaging both! Even at places of worship, people pull out their phones and are scrolling through it. There is so much time spent on the phones going through junk that could otherwise have been committed to more productive work.
2. Constantly being on our phones robs us of thinking and reflective times. The biggest ideas are birthed in our quiet moments, but social media contains so much noise that we are no longer thinking.
3. It costs money to buy data to access WhatsApp and other social media handles. With so much junk images and videos, Nigerians are throwing trillions of Naira down the drain without enjoying value for money.
4. Constant access to social media affects our mental health. We become addicted. Then some of the contents erode our long-held principles and values and we become junkies to manipulators who brainwash us with their ideologies. In tragic cases people have taken their lives spurred on by social media con messages.
5. Relationships are strained and even broken because we are paying too much attention to our phones instead of our partners!
6. National productivity is affected because workers are spending too much time on social media instead of delivering on their job responsibilities.
7. Social media affects driver safety too as accidents have happened because people were paying attention to their phones instead of on the roads. Other industrial and domestic accidents have happened because of loss of attention by workers who are distracted by the content on their phones.
Conclusion
Social media is a great innovation because opportunities and long lasting personal and business relationships are built and sustained. However, the wrong use of social media as highlighted in this article has negative consequences which must be avoided. One way to overcome addiction to social media is to set aside a specific time daily for social media access and keep strictly to it. Also, members of WhatsApp groups should exercise restraint, decorum and discipline in the use of the groups.
Agule writes from the UK and can be reached on: Twitter: @NickAgule; Email: nick.agule@yahoo.co.uk; Facebook: Nick Agule, FCA; WhatsApp: +447495164578
By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
As part of efforts to reposition the newspaper for optimum corporate performance, the management of Asset Newspapers Limited, Publishers of DAILY ASSET, has announced the appointment of David Torough as the Editor of the Abuja-based national daily.
A statement by the management said the appointments were part of the company’s new strategy to further penetrate the various states in the country and raise its readership and patronage.
“DAILY ASSET is widely acceptable across the country and to maintain our leadership position, we need to increase management presence, hence the need to create new Bureau offices in some locations outside Abuja and Lagos,” the statement quoted the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief, Dr Cletus Akwaya to have said.
In a statement yesterday, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the fast-growing daily, Dr. Cletus Akwaya said the appointment was part of the new strategy to properly situate the paper for better productivity.
“DAILY ASSET has a commitment with the Nigerian people. We are determined to weather the storm and give Nigerian readers a Newspaper that satisfies their yearnings and reading pleasure and we can only do that with the right set of professionals,” the statement said.
Akwaya, a former Commissioner of Information from Benue State said the difficult times being faced by Nigerians posed a great challenge to the media as the people deserved credible information with which to make choices.
“We have a bond with the people, to offer credible information at all times in the best tradition of the Nigerian Press and on this scale of objectivity, truth and fairness, we pledge to remain steadfast no matter the challenges,” Akwaya was quoted to have said.
He said the newspaper will maiantin its daily print run and circulation to all states of the federation and urged advertisers to take advantage of the deep penetration of the Daily Asset brand to send their messages.
Torough, the new Editor has had a steady rise in the Newspaper in the last five years.
A graduate of Mass communication of the Benue State University, Makurdi, Torough joined the company in 2022 as Benue State Correspondent. He was spotted for his brilliance and redeployed to Abuja the following year and promoted to Deputy News Editor. He was subswuently named Deputy Editor of the paper, a position he held until the recent appointment.
Torough has attended several journalistic workshops and trainings to properly equip himself for the task ahead.
The statement also said the Management named Eze Okechukwu as Deputy Editor.
Before his elevation as Deputy Editor, Eze has been Deputy Politics Editor and DAILY ASSET Newspaper correspondent covering the Senate, having joined the organization in 2021.
Born on March 10, 1975, Eze holds a Masters Degree in Mass Communication from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Eze began his journalism career with Daily Star, Enugu and later worked with Daily Trust Newspaper, Abuja as sports reporter.
Aside from his journalistic excellence, he has a great deal of passion for sports.
From Ngutor Dekera, Kaduna and Aliyu Askira, Kano
Northern governors and traditional rulers yesterday called for the suspension of mining activities across the region for six months, blaming illegal mining for worsening insecurity in many states.The resolution was contained in a communiqué issued after a joint meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council held at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna.
The meeting, chaired by the Gombe State Governor and NSGF Chairman, Muhammadu Yahaya, had in attendance the 19 northern governors and chairmen of the 19 states’ traditional councils. The Forum expressed concern over the escalating violence in parts of the North, including the killings and abductions recently recorded in Kebbi, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kano states, as well as renewed Boko Haram attacks in Borno and Yobe.“The Forum extends its deepest condolences and solidarity to the governments and good people of the affected states,” the communiqué said, noting that the attacks on schoolchildren and other citizens had become “unacceptable tragedies” that required urgent collective action.It commended President Bola Tinubu for what it described as the Federal Government’s “firm response” to recent abductions and insurgency threats, especially the rescue of some abducted pupils.The governors also saluted security agencies for their sacrifices on the frontlines.“We resolved to renew our support for every step taken by the President and Commander-in-Chief to take the fight to insurgents’ enclaves in order to end the criminality,” the Forum stated.A major highlight of the meeting was the North’s renewed push for the establishment of state police, with governors and traditional rulers insisting that decentralised policing had become inevitable.“The Forum reaffirms its wholehearted support and commitment to the establishment of state police,” the communiqué added, urging federal and state lawmakers from the region to “expedite action for its actualisation.”On illegal mining, the governors said criminal mining networks were fuelling violence and providing resources for armed groups.As a corrective measure, they asked Tinubu to direct the Minister of Solid Minerals to impose a six-month suspension of mining activities in order to allow for a full audit and revalidation of licences.“The Forum observed that illegal mining has become a major contributory factor to the security crises in Northern Nigeria. “We strongly recommend a suspension of mining exploration for six months to allow proper audit and to arrest the menace of artisanal illegal mining,” it said.To strengthen the fight against insecurity, the governors also announced the creation of a regional Security Trust Fund.Under the proposed arrangement, each state and its local governments will contribute ₦1bn monthly, to be deducted at source under an agreed framework.They said the fund would help provide sustainable financing for joint operations, intelligence-driven interventions and coordinated security responses across the region.At the end of the meeting, the Forum reaffirmed its commitment to unity and collective responsibility.“Only through unity, peer review and cooperation can we overcome the pressing challenges before us,” it declared.The Forum agreed to reconvene on a date to be announced.Meanwhile, Nigeria’s worsening security crisis took a grim turn on Monday as bandits launched fresh attacks in Kano State, abducting 25 villagers, even as the Federal Government raced to secure the release of more than 300 Catholic school children kidnapped in Niger State.In the early hours of Monday, armed bandits invaded Unguwar Tsamiya—popularly called Dabawa—in Shanono Local Government Area of Kano State, whisking away nine men and two women after shooting into the air and assaulting residents. The attackers also rustled two cows.A resident lamented the community’s helplessness: “We cannot do otherwise; most of us cannot leave because we have nowhere to go. This is our place, our land and everything is here.”The assault came less than 24 hours after a similar attack on Yan Kamaye in Tsanyawa LGA, a community along the volatile Katsina border.In Niger State, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has assured distraught families of St. Mary’s Co-Education School, Kontagora that the more than 300 students and staff abducted on November 21 will return home “soon.” Ribadu, who led a high-level federal delegation to the school on Monday, said the abductees are safe, though he offered no specifics on their location or the status of rescue operations.According to Daniel Atori, spokesman for the Catholic bishop overseeing the school, the NSA reassured officials: “The children are where they are and will come back safely.”The St. Mary’s attack is part of a worrying resurgence of mass kidnappings reminiscent of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction. Security analysts warn that banditry has evolved into a “structured, profit-seeking industry,” with hundreds of Nigerians abducted in November alone.The Kontagora school abduction occurred the same week 25 girls were kidnapped in Kebbi State—victims who authorities say have since been rescued through “non-kinetic” means. About 50 of the St. Mary’s hostages have also managed to escape.Ribadu’s delegation, which included the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), reaffirmed the government’s commitment to securing the freedom of all abducted citizens.As communities from Kano to Niger continue to bear the brunt of these violent incursions, the escalating spate of kidnappings underscores the urgent national demand for a more decisive and coordinated security response.
By David Torough, Abuja
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said former Attorney‑General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, will face a team of interrogators at its office daily throughout December.A credible source in the EFCC said on Monday that the daily appearance was part of an ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of an alleged 490 million dollars Abacha loot secured through a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLAT) request.
The source said that Malami, who was summoned for interrogation by the EFCC on Saturday, was barred from leaving Nigeria for the next one month.According to the source, one of the conditions for his release on Saturday was that he should report daily to the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation.The source said Malami would have to appear daily at the anti-graft office due to the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him.”We seized his passport, it is the normal routine during investigation, but he has to report at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja every day for the next month.”He will be reporting for further investigation throughout December.”He will be reporting every day, starting from Dec. 1st to Dec. 31st.He will appear before the team of investigators for the entire month of December.”He will be reporting to EFCC for investigation for the period because of the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him,” the source added.According to the source, a fact sheet on the former minister revealed that Malami had several issues to clarify with the EFCC within the coming weeks.“We have asked him to explain the whereabouts of the $490 million Abacha loot secured through MLAT.“We didn’t say he stole money, but he should account for the loot. This is one of the issues he will clarify to our investigators.”The commission cited the large volume of documents he must review and the need for extensive interviews as reasons for seizing his passport.The source said EFCC would not engage in a war of words but would release its findings after a thorough investigation.Malami, in a statement by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, on Monday in Abuja, however, described the EFCC investigation as a political witch‑hunt.He confirmed he honored an EFCC invitation on Nov. 28, describing the engagement as fruitful and expressing confidence that the probe would vindicate him.Malami described the EFCC’s allegations as baseless, illogical and devoid of substance, insisting they collapse under factual scrutiny.
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