Social Vices, Hate Speech and Cyberbullying in Nigeria: Impacts on Nigerian Youths

Abstract

As electronic technology continues to penetrate all aspects of human lives and transforms the social order, it has impacted on human  beings significantly. Positively, internet facility has made human communication a lot easier. Unfortunately, the use of internet facility has  been abused and has facilitated the rise of social vices such as hate speech and cyberbullying on humanity, especially the youths. For  the purpose of this paper, we focused more on the negative effects of internet facility as an instrument for social vices to humanity,  with special attention to the Nigerian youths. The data for this study is from secondary source which consists of observations by different  authors in different spheres of life. We observed that cyberbullying and hate speech are inter-related as both are social vices which  involve harassments and hate utterances which can trigger war. Hence, same remedy may be applicable to fight against both. To the best  of our knowledge, there were no legal laws on hate speech. Therefore, we recommend that the government and all concerned  authorities should enforce internet security to monitor, as well as pass a bill that will take care of haters, bring to book and penalize cyber  offenders. Parents/guardians should take responsibilities towards checkmating their children’s activities both online and offline. Awareness should be created in schools, churches, mosques and in communities to educate people on what constitutes hate speech. In  conclusion, awareness should be created on the consequences of hate speech and cyberbullying to the future of the youths and the  society.