The Director of Alberione Insti-
tute of Communication Edu-
cation (AICE), Iju-Lagos, and
Provincial Superior of the Society of
St. Paul, Nigeria, Fr. Jikson Mullasseril
SSP says criminalizing hate speech as
canvassed by the authorities and some
sections of the society would amount
to clamping down on freedom of
expression as guaranteed by the Ni-
gerian constitution. Fr. Mullasseril
who spoke recently in an exclusive
interview with our correspondent in
Lagos would rather prefer a situation
where the authorities should consider
a better option to stemming the ugly
tide of fake news and hate speech that appears to dominate the media space
especially the new media-the internet.
According to the director, what peo-
ple need especially young minds who
use the internet most is media edu-
cation and called on the government
at all levels to think towards that di-
rection, insisting that it would rather
be counterproductive to restrict free
speech and indirectly gag the press.
Educating the people on media prac-
tice and ethics would save government
the energy and resources that would
have gone into fighting fake news and
hate speech and that the press would
bear the brunt thereby stifling press
freedom in Nigeria, Fr. Jikson Mullas-
seril reasoned.
Fr. Mullasseril who also unveiled
the newest course, film making to be
added to the Institute’s syllabus said
that a workshop is being organized
for those interested in film directing,
screen writing, acting, editing and cin-
ematography to be held at the Institute
campus, 21 Oremeji St., Obawole,
Iju, Lagos in Ifako-Ijaiye Local Gov-
ernment Council on February 10 to
17, 2020 while week end programme
extends to five Saturdays. He advised
Catholic youths especially to take ad-
vantage of the training programme to
become professional film makers at an
affordable cost.
For further enquiries the Institute
can be reached on www.info@aices-
tudy.com or on the following G.S.M
numbers 09028192785, 08078194452,
08066938408
