17th NDSF: Nigerian youth formally adopt historic declaration on digital rights - ITREALMS

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A transformative milestone was achieved at the 17th Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) on June 11, 2026, as secondary school participants and youth delegates formally adopted the “2026 Nigerian Youth Declaration on Digital Rights” reports ITREALMS.

Conceived at the Welcome Centre Hotels, Lagos, this charter serves as a baseline standard for the digital future of Nigeria’s youth, grounded in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/173 regarding the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) vision.

Paradigm Initiative intensifies digital rights advocacy in Ghana with judicial training and gamified learning - ITREALMS

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The Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a leading pan-African non-profit championing digital rights and inclusion, has launched a four-day series of strategic engagements in Ghana, reports ITREALMS.

This programme is aimed at strengthening the country's digital ecosystem through judicial capacity building, policy dialogue, and innovative gamified learning for youth.

CEMESO condemns shutdown of Badeggi FM, Tasks Niger State Governor to respect democratic rights - ITREALMS

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The Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO) has strongly condemned the arbitrary shutdown of Badeggi FM by the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, reports ITREALMS.

CEMESO views this action as a blatant abuse of executive power, violating the rule of law and the rights of the media house and journalists.

MRA demands stronger Whistleblower protections in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has urgently called on the Nigerian Federal Government to implement robust legal and institutional safeguards for whistleblowers, reports ITREALMS.

The MRA emphasized that these courageous individuals are vital for exposing corruption, human rights abuses, and other wrongdoings, serving as a cornerstone of transparency, accountability, and good governance.

MRA blasts SNM for calling on Police, security agencies to restrict FOI Act - ITREALMS

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Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has condemned in strong terms a recent statement by a group of individuals describing themselves as Save Nigeria Movement (SNM) urging the Police and other security agencies to "checkmate" the activities of non-state actors allegedly blackmailing and extorting government officials using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The SNM, in a statement jointly signed by Rev Solomon Semaka and Dr Richard Oduma, who described themselves as the Task Force on Illegal CSOs co-conveners, called on the Inspector-General of Police and the intelligence services to strengthen their efforts and beam their searchlight on the activities of criminal syndicates which specialised in blackmailing and extorting unsuspecting government officials using the FOI Act.

2024 DRILL: Fellows emerge from 7 countries to drive digital rights across continents - ITREALMS

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The Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a leading pan-African organization championing digital rights and inclusion, has announced the selection of seven finalists from across Africa and India for the 2024 Digital Rights and Inclusion Learning Lab (DRILL) Fellowship.

Chosen from a highly competitive pool of 1,490 applicants, this year’s cohort will play a pivotal role in advancing digital rights in their respective countries, including Tunisia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burundi, Uganda, Namibia, and India.

AFRICMIL, Amnesty International to hold national conference on Whistleblowing, corruption and human rights - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and the Nigeria office of the global human rights group, Amnesty International, will hold a national conference on September 19, 2024, to explore the link between whistleblowing, corruption and human rights as well as take stock of the situation of whistleblowers in Nigeria.

The theme of the conference, which comes on the heels of increased attacks and violations of the rights of whistleblowers, is “Amplifying Whistleblowing to reduce Corruption and Protect Human Rights.”

PIN's 4th short film loading on human rights day, screens films @Web Summit - ITREALMS

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The Paradigm Initiative’s (PIN’s) fourth short film is set for release on 10th, December, 2023, in honour of this year’s Human Rights Day and the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), reports ITREALMS.

The movie is inspired by findings of the organisation’s annual Londa 2022 report which provides insight into the state of digital rights and inclusion across 24 African countries. Like preceding projects, the short film will provide exposure to some key aspects raised in the report, and sensitise the public on how the issues affect them and the need for advocacy.

PIN calls out Senegalese govt over digital rights violations - ITREALMS

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Leading pan-African digital rights and inclusion organisation, the Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has called on the Senegalese Government to immediately restore Internet and social media platforms in the country, reports ITREALMS.

This follows multiple breaches of Senegalese citizens' digital rights and data privacy in the past few months, with the latest being on Thursday, June 1st, 2023.

May: Editorial independence & shaping future of human rights - ITREALMS

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The importance of shaping the future of human rights within the media, especially on editorial independence, cannot be over-emphasised in a digital era, writes ITREALMS ' REMMY NWEKE.

What about May?

Yes, what about May? It’s no longer news that the month of May globally is recognised yearly within the media space for the upholding of media freedom of expression and invariably, which left most followers this year with some great expectations both from the practitioners and society at large.

Freedom of the press or freedom of the media, has been posited as the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely.


Editorial independence and press freedom:
An instance is editorial independence which is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. According to Wikipedia, editorial independence is tested, for instance, when a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising clientele or critical of its ownership.

Experts at BusinessPerspective.org, posited an understanding that “еditorial independence” as full freedom of journals’ editors when making decisions on whether or not to publish, as well as make corrections in the papers or withdraw them; only based on their scientific value and without intervention of the founders and the publisher of journal or newsletter, the authors and their sponsors, any other institutions and persons.” Maintaining also that these institutions or persons cannot affect the timelines of papers’ publication.

With the above, shaping the future of rights, especially human rights have become a source of concern.

But just three days into the month of May, the World Press Freedom was held on Wednesday, of the fourth month of 2023, to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of press freedom principles issued by African newspaper journalists in 1991. The Declaration was a response to the oppressive media policies of the then Apartheid regime in South Africa.

After the initial Declaration of Windhoek, how has Africa and African media precisely fared?

Digital editor’s travails:
Recently a senior African media practitioner, identified as 'Lekan' narrated how a body of practitioners made a fuss over where an electioneering form dividend should go into.

According to Lekan, he was involved in organising a media-based professional electoral process and based on the constitutional requirement, it must be an online election to accommodate those who may not be immediately physically available, moreso in this digital era.

Being a member of a three-man Election Committee in the month of May, they decided to sale the forms to draw revenue for the association. Unknown to them, that was to create another chapter of albatross and the Executive Committee became interested in the potential revenue and began to interfere in the EC mandate instead of waiting for the Committee to execute their mandates and retire any inflow or even remains from their already approved budget.

Media ownership, political will & transparency:
Due to this pressure because of the token realizable from the form sales, Exco began to give counter orders against the direction of EC and Lekan ended up resigning from the EC to give peace a chance.

As if that was not enough, a few weeks later within the same month of May, Lekan, who used to edit and in fact pioneered an intercontinental newsletter suffered yet another executive interference due to some political interest of Exco of the intercontinental organisation whose newsletter he has pioneered in the past three years rather than allow Lekan a free hand to run the newsletter professionally.

For the newsletter, the leader of the intercontinental group had a member who was elected in a related global body and did not want that featured in the Newsletter due to opposition influence on him, despite that Lekan was the one who personally sourced the story and used same only to discover that the opposition at the "global body" were not happy and the overbearing leader wanted the story pulled down, while Lekan insisted that professionally, their politics in another association even though they were all members of the newsletter organisation should not be allowed to be a motivating factor, which assenting to such a request will spell doom.

To have his professional integrity intact, Lekan, once again decided to step aside.

As said by Lekan, he saw a lot of people especially professionals including in the media who visualise the best of things to happen to their world but don't have the political will to stand up for what they desire, either as an individual or for family sake, aside the political overbearing of media ownership upon the editorial leadership and politicization of editorial content or what some other folks observed as editorial weaponization.

Essence of freedom:
Generally, freedom is very essential as it offers us the right to be ourselves, which assists us to work together after maintaining autonomy. Freedom is quite significant as the opposite is detrimental to our own individual and collective well-being, which is inconsistent with human nature.

2023 theme and fulfillment of human rights:
This brings us to the theme of 2023, which is “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.”

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This year, 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day. Yes, three decades have passed since it was proclaimed in 1993, in which we have seen substantial progress towards achieving a free press and freedom of expression around the world. The proliferation of independent media in many countries and the rise of digital technologies have enabled the free flow of information.

However, media freedom, safety of journalists and freedom of expression are increasingly under attack, which impacts the fulfillment of other human rights.

Media Freedom:
Britannica defined media freedom as the freedom of various kinds of media and sources of communication to operate in political and civil society, hence, “Freedom of the media is the fundamental right of various forms of media, including print, radio, television, and online media entities to operate freely in society without government control, restriction, or censorship.

In other words, freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle and do the right things even in a socio-economic situation like professional elections transparently within the media space.

Proliferation of disinformation:
Though the international community faces multiple crises not limited to conflicts and violence, persistent socio-economic inequalities driving migration, environmental crises and challenges to the health and wellbeing of people all around the world. Overtly, disinformation and misinformation online and offline proliferate, with serious impact on the institutions underpinning democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

Centre of discussion:
Therefore, it is to exactly counter these critical situations and threats that press freedom, safety of journalists and access to information have become the centre of discussion nowadays. The right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a prerequisite and a driver to the enjoyment of all other human rights.

This year’s special 30th anniversary celebration of World Press Freedom Day is, therefore, a call to recharge press freedom, as well as independent, pluralistic, and diverse media, as key to the enjoyment of all other human rights.

The internal workings of media environment depend on professional bodies to ensure entrenchment of what they preach. As they say, you cannot give what you do not have including ‘editorial independence’ if we must shape the future of human rights and especially in the media industry.

African media practitioners to craft future of rights @Lusaka - ITREALMS

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The African editors, journalists and media stakeholders are warming up to craft a future of rights on the continent at the 2nd Africa Media Convention (AMC) scheduled for Lusaka, Zambia from 11-13 May 2023, reports ITREALMS.

A press statement available to ITREALMS and endorsed by the trio of Lydia Gachungi of  UNESCO, Enock Ngoma, Chairperson of Media Liaison Committee (MLC) Zambia and Willie Mponda, Chairperson, Southern Africa Editors Forum (SAEF) noted that AMC under the 2023 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) theme: Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a driver for all other human rights.”

PIN welcomes DRC's adoption of digital rights laws - ITREALMS

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The Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has welcomed the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) adoption of various regulatory laws relating to digital rights, reports ITREALMS.

These, ITREALMS gathered, include the Ordinance-Law N•23/008 of March 10 2023, authorising the ratification by the DRC of the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), Ordinance-Law N•23/010 of March 13 on the Digital Code in the DRC, which addresses cyber security as well as the adoption at the National Assembly level of Law No. 23/009 of March 13 2023, laying down the modalities for exercising freedom of the press, freedom of information and broadcasting by radio and television, written press or any communication medium in the DRC.

2023: Paradigm Initiative hosts Digital Rights and Elections in Africa Meetings - ITREALMS

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Leading Pan-African organization, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has launched a project that will see the institution collaborate with elections stakeholders across the continent to proactively sensitize citizens on digital rights ahead of general elections, reports ITREALMS.

The move comes just 17 days ahead of the Nigerian election poll, which will take place on Saturday, 25th February 2023.

Military pledges protection of civilians in conflict, curb human rights abuses - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian military has pledged its readiness to prioritize conflict management and reduce civilian harm in face of the insurgency.

The Commandant National Defence College Nigeria Rear Admiral Murtala Bashir, during a workshop on the protection of civilians in a challenging environment organized by the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)in collaboration with the Alumni Association of the National Defense College (AANDEC), said violence against civilians is an unintended consequence of conflict however he stated that civilians harm perpetrated by security forces will not be tolerated.

MRA tasks FG on journalists safety policies, legislation - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to adopt and implement policies and laws instituting preventive measures aimed at eliminating or reducing attacks against journalists and ensuring routine but diligent prosecution of perpetrators of such attacks, reports ITREALMS.

According to the organization, by so doing, the Government would be able to ensure that perpetrators of attacks against journalists do not go free while also discouraging future attacks as impunity for such attacks in the past had aggravated the situation.

The call is contained in a report released Monday by MRA entitled “A Profession Endangered: An Analytical Report on the Safety of Journalists in Nigeria” in which it highlighted a variety of attacks faced by Nigerian journalists in the course of carrying out their professional duties, including assault and battery, arrests and detention, shutdown of media outlets, raids on media organizations and facilities, confiscation or destruction of work equipment, and abductions, among others.

The project which led to the report is aimed at finding solutions that ensure the safety of journalists at all times, particularly in the face of shrinking civic space in Nigeria manifested in sustained attacks on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and in the light of the failure of successive governments, law enforcement and security agencies to take meaningful steps to address the problem which has significantly affected the ability of the media to provide the public with accurate and reliable information.

The report documents cases of attacks on journalists and the media in Nigeria between January 2017 to May 2019. MRA said: “in all cases of attacks against journalists in Nigeria, there is no evidence of any diligent effort made by security and law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute perpetrators; the perpetrators invariably commit these crimes with impunity as they go scot-free without any repercussion for their actions.”

Mr. Ayode Longe, MRA’s programme director, said: “It has become imperative that we call attention to this ugly trend of attacks against the media because of the negative effect especially when government is doing nothing to address the issue. We have consistently made the point that when attacks on the media go unpunished, perpetrators are emboldened and journalists are silenced in many ways. Invariably, the public is denied vital information that they would ordinarily be able to obtain through the media and which might be critically important for decision-making on many different levels.”

In the report, MRA made several recommendations to tackle the incidence of attacks on journalists targeting various stakeholders in the country including the Federal government; media owners and journalists unions/associations; media regulatory bodies; civil society organisations; security, law enforcement and intelligence agencies; and the general public.

The organization recommended that security, law-enforcement and intelligence agencies should train their personnel and agents on applicable human rights norms and standards as well as the vital role that the media play in society in ensuring good governance, among other things; carry out training and sensitization programmes for their personnel and agents on the rules of civic engagement; as well as investigate and prosecute cases of attacks against journalists and the media both to punish perpetrators and to send a message to would-be perpetrators that no attack against journalists and the media will go unpunished.

It called on media freedom and freedom of expression organisations to, among other things, sensitise journalists about their safety and train them on how to keep safe in all situations, including how to determine situations that may likely degenerate into violence and how to ensure their safety under such circumstances.

MRA also recommended regular advocacy activities to relevant stakeholders, including the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary, civil society, law-enforcement, security and intelligence agencies; other government officials and civil servants, and members of the public to familiarize them on the role of the media in society and the need for them to work together to ensure the safety of journalists.

The report was produced with the support of the Africa Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), a continental network of the most prominent African freedom of expression and media rights organisations that are also members of IFEX- global free expression network.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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Discussing digital rights in era of repression

Commentary@ITREALMS:

As a sort of New Year gift to the online media community, Nigerian security agents arrested Tim and Daniel Elombah, the publisher and editor of elombah.com, for allegedly publishing a content the police hierarchy considered offensive. That would not be the first time a journalist or publisher would be arrested for publishing content online in Nigeria. In the last few years, several citizens have been illegally detained for online content some powerful individual or institutions found “offensive.”

For instance, a popular blogger Abusidiqu was arrested in 2016 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a law enforcement agency in Nigeria. A source was quoted as saying, Abusidiqu’s arrest was connected to his posts on EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu and according to the spokesperson of the agency, Abusidiqu was arrested for offences bordering on cyberstalking.

The attack on free speech online is unfortunately not limited to Nigeria, too many other African countries are in the same boat of repression as Nigeria. From Egypt to The Gambia, from Cameroon to Kenya, citizens and journalists alike are not safe from the wrath of those in power when critical content is published online. Last February, Gambian police arrested a university lecturer and kept him in overnight detention for questioning the president's ability to maintain national security in an interview. In April 2017, a Ugandan university teacher and social media critic of the Ugandan government, Stella Nyanzi was arrested and detained for allegedly insulting the President Yoweri Museveni.

The list of victims of flagrant abuse of the right to free speech online is simply endless. While the digital space has democratised access to information and information dissemination means, governments and powerful individuals in Africa have continued to put unnecessary hurdles in the way of progress.

In Nigeria and Egypt, the national governments have asserted its power to restrict access to websites they consider subversive without judicial oversight. This power that is unknown to the law, at least in Nigeria, was behind the restriction of access to some 20 websites in Nigeria, including the popular news site, naij.com, last year. Egypt is the clear leader in this department as it has permanently restricted access to over four hundred websites. Across the continent, we find obnoxious laws or policies that not only impact negatively on citizens’ rights, but threaten the health of democracy and exchange of ideas. Tanzania, for example, recently introduced a regulation that would require bloggers to pay $900 every year as some sort of license fee. This regulation, if allowed to be implemented, will effectively shut down the country’s burgeoning online media space.

A couple of days ago, Burundi Media Regulator suspended the online commentary column of Iwacu newspaper, for three months. According to the Director of the Newspaper, “the column is known to be a platform for criticism over government’s action, the country’s situation by Burundians irrespective of where they live.” Also, the online weekly newspaper Iwacu is said to be one of Burundi’s few remaining independent media outlets since 2015, when the country’s radio stations were shut down on President Pierre Nkurunziza’s orders.

Free speech online is not the only digital right that has been under attack in Africa. Access to internet service has been under severe attack. Cameroon has repeatedly shut down internet services in the Anglophone regions of the country in a futile bid to scuttle protests against the government. In fact, in 2017, the internet was off in parts of Cameroon for almost as many days as it was on.

For many people on the continent, activities such as elections, public examinations and protest could mean comprehensive internet blackout. Ethiopia, Togo, Somaliland and Cameroon are just some of the countries that have shut down the internet in the last two years. Social media and messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Viber have been and are currently blocked in Chad amid political tension. This is not the first time this year. Chad ordered an Internet shutdown in response to national protest action backed by trade unions and civil society organisations using social media.

According to a report released by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) last year, Internet Shutdown has cost Sub-Saharan African up to US$237 million since 2015. This is to highlight the economic implications of the trend of digital rights violation in Africa.

The persistent attacks on digital rights and the poor policy framework for rights protection have led to civil society efforts geared towards resisting and ultimately correcting the sad situation. One of such efforts is the Internet Freedom Forum. For the last six years, Nigeria has hosted the pan-African forum, dedicated to conversations on internet freedom on the continent.

The forum is convened by Paradigm Initiative and supported by organisations including Microsoft, Google, Ford Foundation, Premium Times and The Guardian. The forum brings together experts from various African countries to discuss the state of digital rights and internet freedom on the continent, and evolve effective solutions to problems confronting rights online. For instance, the 2014 edition of the Forum gave birth to a Digital Rights and Freedom Bill that was recently passed by the Nigerian legislature and is currently being studied in other countries for possible replication. The Internet Freedom Forum provides a veritable platform for Internet stakeholders in Africa and those whose work focuses on Africa to discuss and proffer solutions to the challenges. It is a meeting point for government, civil society, journalists, open web advocates and other Internet stakeholders.

The 2018 edition of the forum is scheduled to hold from April 24 to April 26 in Abuja. The Forum could not have come at a better time in 2018 as many African countries including Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Mali are preparing for elections. Election periods constitute a vulnerable period for digital rights as governments leverage the periods to curtail citizens’ rights online. The forum also comes at a time when the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal is at the centre of conversations globally and most importantly the revelations of the data analytics company’s attempt at shaping previous elections in Kenya and Nigeria.

Clearly, delegates will have their hands full discussing better methods of protecting digital rights not only from the antics of government but also from businesses with less-than-ideal data privacy culture. All lovers of human rights must turn their attention to the Forum in Abuja as it is where African experts and advocates would have their say on issues confronting digital rights in Africa and evolving and strengthening Africa-led initiatives towards entrenching digital rights on the continent.

*Contributed by Sodiq Alabi and Boye Adegoke are digital rights advocates with Paradigm Initiative.

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Paradigm Initiative commends NASS for passing Digital Rights Bill

ITREALMS:

Pan-African digital rights organization, Paradigm Initiative has commended the two legislative houses of the National Assembly (NASS) for passing the Digital Rights and Freedom bill, reports ITRealms.

The bill, ITRealms recalled was passed on Tuesday afternoon by the Senate following earlier passage at the House of Representatives last December, 2017.

The Bill, ITRealms gathered was a product of civil society efforts led by Paradigm Initiative beginning at the 2014 Internet Freedom Forum in Abuja, “provides for the protection of human rights online, to protect Internet users in Nigeria from infringement of their fundamental freedoms and to guarantee application of human rights for users of digital platforms and/or digital media.”

Speaking on the importance of the bill, Paradigm Initiative’s Digital Rights Programme Manager, Boye Adegoke said, “By the passage of this BIll, the legislative arm of government has shown a commitment to the development of digital rights in Nigeria.”

He expressed excitement about the provisions in this Bill regarding freedom of expression online.

“The bill will ensure that citizens can freely express their opinions online without interference. This is such a positive development at a time when Nigeria is moving into an election season and there are legitimate fears that there may be moves by some political interests to gag free speech in the country. 

The positive leadership of the National Assembly on the issue is quite commendable.” Adegoke said.

Also speaking, Director of Programme at Paradigm Initiative, Tope Ogundipe said “Nigeria has demonstrated remarkable leadership on the continent by passing this Bill. The Bill is quite important to the future of innovation and Nigeria’s digital economy in essence. It represents the needed framework to attract the partnership of global brands in the digital economy.”

Worthy of note about this bill, ITRealms gathered, is the provision of progressive legislative backing to online speech in the country.

Paradigm Initiative further urged President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the bill to transform it into a law, making it Nigeria’s first law on human rights online.

Clause 14 of the bill, for instance, reads, “Every person shall have the right to freely express opinion online without interference, this right includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of digital frontiers”. Under this Bill, freedom of expression further includes the freedom to express and impart information and ideas of all kinds that can be transmitted to others, in whatever form, and regardless of media.”

Nenye Egbune/GEE

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National Assembly passes Digital Rights & Freedom Bill

BreakingNews @ITREALMS:

The Nigerian Senate has finally passed the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill, following in the footsteps of the Nigerian House of Representatives which passed the Bill on December 19, 2018, reports ITRealms.

The bill, ITRealms gathered was passed at about 1:09 pm Tuesday, and is a product of civil society efforts led by Paradigm Initiative beginning at the 2014 Internet Freedom Forum in Abuja, “provides for the protection of human rights online, to protect Internet users in Nigeria from infringement of their fundamental freedoms and to guarantee application of human rights for users of digital platforms and/or digital media.”

ITRealms also gathered that in 2016, Hon Chukwuemeka Ujam sponsored the Bill at the House of Representatives where it underwent rigorous legislative process before eventual passage last December.

The Bill was first tabled before the Senate for concurrence on January 16 2018, and was finally passed Tuesday, March 13, 2018. 

Notable of the Digital Rights bill, ITRealms reports provides progressive legislative backing to online speech in the country.

For instance, ITRealms reports that Clause 14 of the bill reads, “Every person shall have the right to freely express opinion online without interference, this right includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of digital frontiers”.

In addition, ITRealms gathered that under this Bill, freedom of expression further includes the freedom to express and impart information and ideas of all kinds that could be transmitted to others, in whatever form, and regardless of media.

Further, the Bill also made provisions towards the protection of data and right to privacy online as contained in Section 5 of the Bill, which reads in part “(1) Every person is guaranteed the confidentiality of his personal data.

“(2) The integrity and confidentiality of personal data and information of citizens is inviolable and therefore guaranteed... (6) All entities that collect, store and/or process personal data in the course of their activities shall have data privacy policies that are readily and easily accessible to the public.”

The Bill will now be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari for the presidential assent to transform the bill to a law, making it Nigeria’s first law on human rights online.

Chuks Egbune and Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Pix: Senate President, Bukola Saraki

BBOG: CDHR indicts Buhari, IGP on human rights violation

ITREALMS:

Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has indicted President Muhammadu Buhari and berated the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on the violation of the rights of the members of the Bring Back Our Girls Group in Abuja, on Tuesday 23^rd January, 2018. CDHR condemned the conduct of the Police in preventing the BBOG from exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression, association and movement, including their right of solidarity to engage in legitimate rally to advance their lawful interest. The Human Rights group described the conduct of the Police as oppressive, primitive and embarrassing.

The BBOG, led by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, had converged at the Unity Fountain, Abuja on Tuesday, 23^rd January, 2017 for their usual rally to attract attention to their patriotic call for the recue or release of the abducted Chibok Girls. Acting on the directive of the IGP, the Commissioner of Police, FCT, illegally prevented the members of the BBOG from exercising their legitimate freedoms, arrested their members, and violated their fundamental rights.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Henry Peter Ekine and made available to the Press, CDHR decried the level to which the Police have degenerated in professionalism and abdicated their expected role to protect the rights of citizens. CDHR was utterly disturbed that the Police have again displayed crass overzealousness in their conduct. The statement by CDHR described the incident as unfortunate in a democratic regime.

CDHR warned that this conduct by the COP on the directive of the IGP, as well as several similar conducts of continuous abuse and violation of the rights of Nigerians by the Police and other state agents, could only incite citizens’ reaction and invite anarchy in an already volatile Nigerian society. CDHR implored the Attorney-General of the Federation to advice the President and the IGP appropriately, at all times, on their conducts that may affect the rights of citizens. Conducts by state agents that violate the rights of citizens raise direct questions on the commitment of the Government to core democratic principles and values.

The foremost human rights group emphasised that the provisions of sections 39, 40 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amendment, provide for the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and movement, respectively. The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Article 11); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 13, 19 and 20) also provide for these rights. The state has the responsibility to protect these rights. It was held in Inspector General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party (2007) 18 NWLR (Pt 1066) that the Police must not disrupt the constitutional right of Nigerians to hold a peaceful and legitimate rally; the Police, in a democratic society such as Nigeria, is rather expected to provide security during rallies. CDHR observed that the conduct of the Police operatives amounted to violation of the rights of citizens, particularly the members of BBOG.

CDHR, under the leadership of Comrade Malachy Ugwummadu, therefore called on the Inspector-General of Police, Commissioners of Police, all the operatives of security agencies and the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari, to abide by our Constitution and the rule of law and respect the rights of all citizens to exercise their fundamental freedoms. The rule of law must always prevail against arbitrariness and alternatives which have no credence under our Constitution. All state agents must submit themselves to the law, and security agencies must not be seen to violate the rights of citizens.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Digital Rights bill passes @Green chambers

ITREALMS:

The Nigeria’s House of Representatives also known as the Green Chamber, has passed the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill (HB. 490), reports ITRealms.

The piece of legislation, ITRealms reports, was passed on Monday and is proposed for “an act to provide for the Protection of Human Rights Online, To Protect Internet Users in Nigeria From Infringement of their Fundamental Freedoms and to Guarantee Application of Human Rights for users of Digital platform and/or Digital Media and for Related Matters.”

The Bill was first conceived by Paradigm Initiative working with the NetRights Coalition in 2013 and its drafting was finalised in 2015. It was introduced to parliament in April 2016 by its sponsor, Hon. Chukwuemeka Ujam, and has now successfully completed its journey through the House of Representatives at the plenary session on December 19, 2017.

According to Adeboye Adegoke, Program Manager of Paradigm Initiative, “Paradigm Initiative is elated by this news because the Netrights Coalition we lead has put in serious effort in seeing the idea to fruition.  We believe strongly in the potential it has to make a great impact in the development and recognition of digital rights in Nigeria. And we hope that after its passage, other African countries, and indeed the world, would follow suit.”

In his remark, the sponsor of the bill, Hon. Chukwuemeka Ujam said, “The Bill has come a long way and will proceed to the Conference Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives for further approval before the final assent by the President; hopefully with no hitches.”

He continued, “the content of the Bill is laudable and brilliant. It is clear evidence of what can happen when the government involves its citizens in lawmaking and governance, and I am proud to sponsor it.”

Digital rights and freedom are increasingly gaining relevance with increasing advocacy in Nigeria. Several civil society organizations exist to ensure that the rights recognized offline are on-boarded to the digital space as well. This is simultaneously in accordance with the advocacy going on internationally.

Paradigm Initiative leads advocacy for these rights in Africa and has embraced policy and legislative intervention as a way to protect digital rights in Africa. The organisation has for years actively spearheaded projects and partnered with other interested civil society groups in ensuring that digital rights are upheld in Africa.

Reacting, the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative, ‘Gbenga Sesan, said that he believes this was a notable moment in 2017. 

"And news like this strengthens our faith in the Nigerian legislative system; in believing that laws which are of significant benefit to citizens are also taken seriously by our lawmakers. We look forward with renewed hope to the next stage of this process at the Senate,” he said.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Pix; Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representative.