The Strategic Roles of the Library in Mitigating the Spate of Hate Speeches in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria, as a nation, is confronted with numerous security issues such as hate and dangerous speeches, political innuendos and propaganda messages, more especially during electioneering campaigns. The news media (print and electronic)as well as social media were used as vehicles and channels of hate and dangerous speeches. Ignorance and lack of information either intentionally or unintentionally lead to people adopting narrow world views that may accommodate hateful views of others. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to identify information repackaging as one of the strategic roles of libraries in mitigating the spate of hate speeches in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to assist significantly in addressing this social complex problem of hate speech that has deepened the political atmosphere of the Nigerian polity