Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has stirred up a storm by calling on President Bola Tinubu to “restrict the use of social media” in order to push Nigerian youths back into agriculture. He made the controversial plea during the South-East Agricultural Summit held on August 18, 2025, at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Conference Centre in Onueke.
Nwifuru argued that platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook have become distractions preventing young people from embracing farming. He insisted that reducing social media access will “rechannel their energy” towards rice and cassava production — areas Ebonyi State is aggressively promoting as part of its 2025 food sufficiency agenda.
The governor praised Tinubu’s push for a national food reserve but claimed “digital addiction” has crippled productivity. His comments quickly went viral, drawing intense backlash from civil society groups who accused him of promoting “digital dictatorship instead of innovation-driven agriculture.”
Critics say the governor’s policy proposition is disconnected from global agricultural trends where technology, mobile apps and digital marketing tools are empowering young farmers with weather tracking, online produce trading and precision farming techniques. They argue that restricting internet access would reverse gains made in smart agriculture.
Youth groups from Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia States have already begun trending #FarmWithWiFi on social media, vowing to resist any attempt to limit their online freedom. Many described the governor’s statement as an excuse to clamp down on freedom of speech rather than a genuine agricultural policy.
Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong condemned the governor’s remarks, saying the constitution guarantees freedom of expression and access to information. He warned that such anti-youth rhetoric could discourage tech-savvy Nigerians from investing in agro-based startups.
Despite the backlash, Nwifuru has doubled down on his request, directing the Ebonyi State Ministry of Agriculture to package a formal memo to the presidency on what he calls a “strategic digital reduction framework” aimed at driving “mass youth participation” in farming across the South-East.
