Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari Monday declared his support for freedom of speech but said it must be balanced with responsibility.
The Nigerian leader made this known in a speech read by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, at the opening session of the Global Media and Information Literacy week taking place in Abuja.
Mr Buhari said in confronting the challenges of rising misinformation and hate speech, “we must also come together to defend freedom of speech, whilst upholding other values that we cherish.”
He said countries must continue to work for a common standard that “balances rights with responsibilities to keep the most vulnerable from harm and help strengthen and enrich our communities.”
Most importantly, he added, was the need to strengthen trust and social cohesion by improving critical thinking competencies to adequately assess the quality of the information received and shared.
“Trust is a key ingredient of democracy and good governance….
