Kaduna (Kaduna State) – Arewa Social Media Forum (ASMEFO), says it plans to train 300 youths on how to effectively use social media for political cohesion, national unity and development.
This is contained in a statement signed by the forum’s Coordinator, Malam Yusuf Dingyadi in Kaduna on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the youths will be drawn from the seven states in the North West and will be trained with support from Peoples Democratic Party’s Youth Frontier (PDPYF).
The PDDYF, the statement added, would be collaborating with Peace and Unity of Nigeria across the country to train the youths.
The statement said the two-day capacity building programme on the importance of Social Media in Developing National Unity and Political Cohesion, would be held in Sokoto from April 22 to 23.
It said the objective of the programme was to train and enlighten youths from the region on how to use social media to promote patriotism, political cohesion, unity and justice in the country.
It added that the program was designed to train, mobilise and enlighten all social media groups and users to make patriotic posts and comments on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social networks.
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The statement further said that the programme was aimed to particularly bring development to the country.
It added that the programme would create a befitting environment to complement efforts toward sustaining nation building and peace through effective usage of social media.
The statement quoted Dingyadi as saying that “the training has become necessary to check the abuse of social media by northern youths.
“Some of our political elites in the north are manipulating our teeming youths and have turned them into a tool for propaganda.
“They are using them to tell lies, thereby causing hatred against particular individuals, religions or section of the country just to achieve cheap political popularity.’’
He noted that such persons were creating hatred and promoting tribalism and religious intolerance among youths and Nigerians generally.
This, he said, was dangerous to collective survival and peaceful co-existence of the country and must be addressed.
The statement added that the programme was aimed at targeting the youths to clear their ignorance and unmask the hidden agenda of politicians. (NAN)