ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has called for the regulation of social media access for Nigerians below the age of 16, citing rising global concerns about the effects of digital platforms on young people.
Falana made the call on Saturday while speaking as a special guest at the maiden edition of the Dare2Debate competition held in Lagos.
The Dare2Debate initiative is designed to groom future leaders and critical thinkers through structured debates among secondary school students, with a focus on public speaking, reasoning and leadership development under its “Think, Speak, and Lead” programme.
Addressing participants at the event, Falana argued that restricting underage access to social media had become necessary to protect children in an increasingly digital world.
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He said, “Well, like I did say, there is an ongoing debate around the world with respect to the use of telephones or access to the social media by young people. Some countries are restricting it. Australia has just insisted that you cannot access social media if you are under 16.
“And, once it is adopted by the United States or UK, in particular, Nigeria, being a neo-colony, will also be bound to follow suit. But one way or the other, it certainly has to be regulated in the interest of our children.
“Do you know what I mean by a neo-colonial country? A country that claims to be independent but is still very much colored in all circumstances. Nigeria is the color of the United Kingdom.”
Falana also rejected the notion that Nigerians were naturally inclined to crime, arguing instead that poverty and unemployment had pushed many into criminal activities.
He said, “First of all, Nigerians are not criminals. If you compare the crime rate here with the United States of America, or some other countries, or South Africa, you will know that Nigerians are not into serious crimes, but because poverty and unemployment have been allowed by the government to be the lot of our people, many people are pushed to criminality.
“However, we have cases of underemployment in Nigeria. So it is not totally true, right, that there are no job opportunities, but we choose, for instance, many of our people who go abroad. Jobs they consider ‘infra dignitatem’ here (below their standard), is what those are jobs they jump at abroad.
“For instance, graduates who are gainfully employed there are made to believe that once they travel abroad, the sky is the limit of opportunities for them. So they get there and they are forced to embark on dirty jobs.”
He further attributed the challenges facing local artisans to what he described as a distorted education system in the country.
Falana said, “Again, because of the distorted educational system, many artisans here are poorly educated. Hence, today, most of the young artisans and young people that are fixing the plumbing and even laying tiles are from Togo, Ghana, and Benin Republic, right? Even Chinese nationals, Indian nationals are now handling jobs that Nigerians consider below their standard or dignity.
“In some countries, on a daily basis, the figures of unemployment are published, so it is the duty of the government to work by those figures and ensure that governments perform their duty.
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“But here we are made to believe that it’s not the business of the government to provide opportunities. What is the business of the government? Many of those who are in government, who are members of my generation, without writing letters of employment, they were employed in this country.”
Earlier, the lead organiser of Dare2Debate, Davies Ikpoyi, said the initiative was created to demonstrate that students could improve through structured conversations, critical thinking and effective communication.
He said, “That’s why we’re here, because the essence of the debate is to train senior secondary school students, youth majorly, on public speaking, critical thinking, and mind management.
“And all of these usually culminates to something bigger, which happens to be the debate events, where everybody comes together to debate for a just cause. And I mean a just cause; it is not a show of force.
“Debates are usually a battle with words, knowledge, and weight. So the essence of all of those trainings was because we wanted to do this, and that’s why we’re here.”