Do note that the minister specifically summoned the Facebook officials for deliberations on how to curtail the use of social media by separatists and terrorists in spreading their messages.
It should be recalled that the need to curtail hate speech was one of the arguments Lai Mohammed and his team put forward during the government's recent face-off with Twitter. And after battling the microblogging site and forcing it to accept a number of conditions, the minister said the government has now switched focus to monitoring Meta and its subsidiaries towards ensuring that the tech giant commits to curbing hate speech.
The move comes as the Nigerian Government steps up its campaign for what has been described as "responsible use of social media," Reuters quoted the minister to have said.
Lai Mohammed did claim that the President Muhammadu Buhari led government does not intend to prevent Nigerians from using social media. However, the government would love to see measures put in place to guarantee 'responsible use', he said.
Across Africa, many governments are stepping up to regulate the activities of social media giants. The efforts so far have included a combination of policies, stakeholder engagements and even partial bans in places like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, etc.