A Critical Examination of Hate Speech in Nigeria

Hate speech touches on contested issues of dignity, free expression, liberty and democracy. It can thus be argued that there is a conflict between the right to freely advocate however distasteful the idea may be and the right to be free from prejudice and discrimination. In some circumstances, speech is restrained and the right to non-discrimination is preferred over free speech. Hate speech has been used invariably to mean expression which is abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing or which incites violence, hatred, discrimination against a group identified by characteristics such as race, religion, place of birth, residence, region, language, caste, community, sexual orientation or personal convictions. The methodology adopted in this paper was doctrinal. Both primary and secondary sources were employed in carrying out this paper. The finding of the paper is that asides from Nigeria, various countries of the world have adopted some measures to deal with hate speech and other related issues.