The coalition warns against unregulated technologies and policies

.FG is considering its own data law solution

The Accountability Lab, Data and Digital Right Coalition has initiated policies to correct the growing use of unregulated digital technologies and policies in Nigeria, particularly Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act.

At an event in Abuja on Monday to mark Data Privacy Week, Accountability Lab, Nigeria’s country director, Odeh Friday, warned that the situation was increasing threats to freedom of expression in the country, maintaining that it also undermined data protection and rights to digital privacy and civil liberties .

According to Friday, the briefings recommend an urgent and comprehensive review of existing legislation and the formulation of new laws, such as the Digital Rights and Freedoms Act, as well as the need for well-informed judicial oversight to manage and correct digital practices that impede civil liberties.

He maintained that the briefings highlighted the challenges of poor awareness of digital rights, online harm prevention and content moderation, adding that the briefings also referred to the lack of clear ethical guidelines and inadequate oversight mechanisms on which no feedback was obtained from public opinion.

Friday explained that the lack of clear guidelines creates an environment susceptible to potential misuse and abuse by government security agencies, particularly in counter-terrorism activities, leading to serious consequences such as human rights violations and harassment.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has stated that the Nigerian Data Protection Act (NDPA) will be implemented using indigenously developed solutions.
The National Commissioner of the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Vincent Olatunji, disclosed this in a media interview as part of the Data Privacy Week 2024 held in Abuja on Monday.

Olatunji recalled that President Bola Tinubu signed the Nigerian Data Protection Act in June 2023, which established the legal framework for personal data protection and data protection practices in Nigeria.

The NDPC commissioner said the government was looking at ways to incorporate indigenous solutions in the implementation of the legal framework.