STAKEHOLDERS have bemoaned the stifling of freedom of speech in Nigeria amid purported surveillance practices by government agencies.
They also proffered solutions to the challenge currently affecting the country with the spate of the arrest of journalists and other Nigerians simply for expressing their views.
The stakeholders agreed that the situation called for urgent collaboration among citizens to fight the enemies of free speech who are using the need to survey the digital space as a reason to arrest innocent Nigerians.
The stakeholders stated this at a one-day roundtable organised by Accountability Lab in Abuja on Tuesday, July 23, with the theme, “Enhancing Accountability in Freedom of Expression and Surveillance Practices.”
While highlighting the objective of the roundtable, the Programmes and Learning Manager of Accountability Nigeria, Ehi Idakwo, listed various persons who had been arrested, detained or harassed in recent months due to their utterances or actions.
She stated that a lot of people had argued that Nigeria needed a legal framework to guide the evolving landscape of technology advancements but stressed that the government must be able to draw the line between safeguarding the digital space and interfering with the freedom of expression.
“As technology advances, the legal infrastructure must also involve protecting the fundamental rights of individuals.”
According to her, the digital rights and freedom bill is being reassessed at the National Assembly. “The bill was thrown out in 2018 but thankfully it is being reassessed now, which is also the right approach.”
She said the bill was a legislative framework designed to secure the fundamental rights of internet users in Nigeria, and if passed, would boost freedom of speech.
According to Idakwo, another regulation that has impacted the digital rights of Nigeria is the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
She called for a delicate balance in ensuring that the government safeguard national security and also safeguards the individual private rights of citizens in Nigeria.
In his address, a legal consultant with Hope Behind Bars (HBB) Africa, Olukade Samuel Idowu, explained how reluctant he was to express his opinion on the internet for fear of being misunderstood.
He said Nigeria lacked the necessary laws that regulate the social media space.
“Whenever there is a challenge that happened on social media, what happens is the police is usually the first point of call and their initial response to everything relating to this extremism is that they go to Cybercrime Act and irrespective of whatever you are saying, whether it’s true whether its a lie, they say you are cyberbullying someone and they use that as an excuse to detain,” Olukade stated.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of Digi Civic Initiative, Mojirayo Ogunlana bemoaned the level of nepotism in the judiciary and called on the media to start showing interest in the election and leadership issues in the Nigeria Bar Association to encourage accountability in the judiciary.
Another participant, a senior communications officer at HBB Africa, Ejiogu Obinna, said making one’s opinion heard online was resulting in more persons going to prison.
“I don’t see any reason why somebody who is expressing their opinion online would be incarcerated. it doesn’t make any sense and it is presenting another challenge to us, increasing the problems that we’re facing in our criminal justice system,” Obinna stated.
The gathering agreed on intensive collaboration, training for judiciary officers, the establishment of accountability mechanisms, alliances, and media oversight among others as solutions to the stifling of freedom of speech.
In his closing remark, the Country Director of Accountablibilty Lab in Nigeria, Odeh Friday, called for more collaboration in the fight against the prevention of free speech.
He called for alliances among like-minded groups to champion press freedom.
Some of the organisations that participated in the discussions included The International Centre For Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Global Rights Nigeria, Tap Initiative, and Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
A reporter with the ICIR
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