National database of trouble makers: I find it impressive that the Nigerian secret service keep and maintain a database of online trouble makers in a country where simple initiatives to improve good governance have been vehemently resisted. This is a triumph of proper deployment of information technology. If this database is utilized in checking the country’s enemies, I guess the Nigerian state is safer than I once thought her to be.
Pressure on the bubble of secrecy: Bloggers who write about social issues on the African continent often worry whether their content matters. It has been amply demonstrated that these content generated day in day out by you and I matter. I find it refreshing that Nigerian officials are bothered by the leaks of one man on one computer. This will check the excesses of some public servants. I have opined in the past that one of the strengths of the ruling class in Nigeria is the culture of secrecy which prevails in governance. The opaque system set up by government officials allow for the creation of an artificial aura around individuals we have elected to serve us. So that we can not challenge decisions made by these set. Officials being uneasy about the impact of a couple of blog entries is a triumph of user generated content. I say more power to the democratization of information.
Will bullets kill the movement? Elendu reports, huhuonline and all other blogs and micro publishing platforms are not about the individual. It is a movement. Harassing and successfully stopping a single blogger will only fuel the movement. Ours is a country in which information has been used against the populace for too long. First it was the shady divide and rule tactics adopted by the colonialist, then came the military with their rule of fear and muzzling of dissenters, now we have a political class bent on borrowing from our immediate past. I see a country willing and ready to break out from the shadow of her past. I see a generation ready to speak up and write, whether the government approves or not. If the examples in other parts of the world are anything to go by, the Nigerian government needs to embrace the crowd rather than attempt to squash dissenters. It is only a matter of time before the pent up power of the movement will break the barriers and all that remain in its path.
Long live Nigeria
