AUN Students Launch Campaign Against Hate, Extremist Comments

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO. ABUJA – Students of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, on Wednesday launched a campaign, “I Stand For Nigeria,” in a bid to counter hate and extremist comments in the country.

The campaign, which is part of the Peer To Peer Global Digital Challenge by social media giant, Facebook, is aimed at tackling “growing level of hate and radical conversations on social media.”

Students offering Online/Digital Reporting in the Department of Communications and Multimedia Design of the university are representing Nigeria in the competition involving universities across the globe.

Spokesperson for Campaign, Salome Nuhu, said the theme, “I Stand For Nigeria,” and the slogan, “Come Stand With Me,” were arrived at after a “rigorous research to uncover the nuances of hate and radical conversations in the country.”

The research, according to her, reveals that religion, politics, and ethnicity as the major drivers of hate and radical expressions, especially on the country’s social media space.

However, 65 percent of such comments were found to have occurred on Facebook, while 18 percent were traced to Twitter and 17 percent to WhatsApp.

The research findings by the class tallied with a similar study by the Dangerous Speech Monitoring System of the Kano-based Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD).

Miss Nuhu said CITAD recorded 5, 978 dangerous speeches targeting ethnicity while 5, 276 targeted religion in Nigeria between May 2016 and October 4, 2017.

“To counter the hate and radical narratives and rekindle among Nigerians, a sense of patriotism, unity and love for the country, the class adopted the theme: ‘I Stand For Nigeria,’ and a slogan, ‘Come Stand With Me,’” she said.

Multiple award-winning editor and Campaign Coordinator, Ibanga Isine, said the “I Stand For Nigeria” is poised at challenging “some of the trappings and manifestations of hate and radical expressions both online and offline.

According to him,  “Hate speech is every form of expression, whether verbal – voice or written, or nonverbal – shaking of hands, patting the back, hugging, pushing, or other kinds of touch, facial expressions, gestures, and eye contact – as well as visual -parades, insignia, armbands, headbands and picket lines – that spurns, attacks, ridicules, humiliates another on account of his or her nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and or disability.

“We are happy our students have again been selected to represent our country in the global competition after two previous successful outings. This shows AUN is indeed one of the best in the continent and will proudly fly the Nigerian flag anywhere in the world.”