Data and digital rights in Nigeria

Data and digital rights include a range of rights and obligations required to effectively and

safely participate in a tech-enabled society. Data rights focus on empowering individuals with

rights to determine how data about them is used, while digital rights are the rights required by

individuals in the digital age. Nigeria has five legal provisions on data & digital rights

(Cybercrimes Act, Freedom of Information Act, Communications Act, NDPR ) but many

provisions in this laws and regulations are contradictory and not well defined and are been

used to punish citizens.

Nigeria has no comprehensive legislation that addresses data and digital rights. Instead,

various pending and enacted sector-specific laws govern data and digital rights. Nigeria is

Africa’s most populated country and largest economy, with a population of around 211

million and a GDP of $467 billion. As of 2020, the number of Nigerians using the internet

was estimated at 100 million (with a 46.6% penetration of the population). According to

Freedom House, Nigeria’s online environment has seen a continuous decline following the

February 2019 elections, with increasing misinformation being spread online, attempted

legislation to limit free speech online, and journalist’s prosecution for online activities.

The advocates category of data and digital rights includes civil society organisations

(“CSOs”), researchers and research institutions. CSOs considered for this report identify and

support advocacy in the data and digital rights space. Their work predominantly focuses on

freedom of expression, data protection and privacy. Organisations include the Paradigm

Initiative, BudgIT, Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative and Amnesty International (Nigeria).

Regulators and policymakers are responsible for the regulation and enforcement of data and

digital rights laws. In Nigeria, the primary regulators of data and digital rights—the NCC and

NITDA—are agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy.
The Ministry was established to facilitate ICT as a critical tool in the transformation agenda

for Nigeria in job creation, economic growth and transparency of governance. Regulators in

Nigeria are also critically underfunded and cannot enforce any of the regulations and

standards that they set. Even when a new bill has been passed into law, implementation and

enforcement is an important aspect. Where the public bodies charged with doing so cannot

enforce the rules, their effectiveness is weakened.

Data protection is a contentious issue in Nigeria. This is largely because there is no

comprehensive data protection law in Nigeria, and better regulatory oversight is needed.

According to some stakeholders, the Nigerian government has not been proactive in

addressing data protection concerns. Digital rights are being restricted in Nigeria because the

government fears social media, lack of freedom of expression is also a threat to activism and

journalism.

In considering the opportunities for impact, this report explores the roles of research,

advocacy, litigation and education in building and strengthening the data and digital rights

ecosystem. Advocacy includes activities by an individual or group aimed at influencing

decisions within political, economic, legal and social institutions e.g. media campaigns,

lobbying, public town halls/speeches and the commissioning of research. Data and digital

rights litigation is a nascent area, with many regions around the world still developing or

updating their legislation to reflect changing technologies. Many Nigerians do not know their

rights or how they can enforce them. Public education and sensitisation to the issues will help

increase participation in advocacy.

Recommendation

Nigeria should not only get a comprehensive legislation that addresses data and digital rights,

but should set up an infrastructure backed by law that will address or manage cases directly
on data and digital rights as the infrastructures already in place like the NIMC is not doing

enough to address issues on data and digital rights protection, for example the niger- delta

region of Nigeria is a petroleum-rich region and has been the centre of international concern

over pollution that has resulted principally from major oil spills of multinational corporations

of the petroleum, for so many years this region was exploited for its mineral resources at the

expense of the environment and the indigenes who solely depends on the water resources for

drinking and fishing, after so many years of agitation and advocacy a structure(Niger delta

development commission) was put in place to offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic

difficulties of the Niger Delta Region and to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development

of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically

regenerative and politically peaceful, the NDDC is a parastatal under the ministry of Niger

delta affairs solely for the Niger delta indigenes, if an infrastructure can be created to address

data and digital rights it will go a long way in solving the data protection contentious issue in

Nigeria. Also Nigeria practices a system of government that power is centralized and should

consider Decentralization where planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated

away from a central, authoritative location or group.