Paradigm Initiative has called on the Nigerian Communications Commission to review some of its regulations to include judicial and public accountability, to remove potential abuses occasioned by the politics of regime preservation.
The pan-African digital rights and inclusion organisation made the call during a webinar it hosted on a draft bill on data protection to launch its new report on Digital Rights and Privacy in Nigeria.
According to PIN, the report, which explores the state of digital rights and privacy in Nigeria, details the political and policy environment, practices and stakeholders around digital rights and privacy in Nigeria.
It said, “Building on previous annual reports on Nigeria and Africa by Paradigm Initiative, the report recommends a review of certain regulations by NCC to include judicial and public accountability to address the potential for abuse(s) occasioned by the politics of regime preservation.”
Other recommendations in the report include a call for the passage of the digital rights and freedom bill as well as the data protection bill.
The social advocacy group also recommended a repeal and re-enactment of the Cybercrimes Act 2015, and a public education campaign to raise the awareness of citizens on data protection.
Speaking on the report and the webinar, Senior Programme Manager at PIN, Adeboye Adegoke, said, “Given the work that we do, part of our advocacy objectives is to ensure that the development of digital policy receives quality inputs from us. Our focus is clear in this regard; rights, inclusion and innovation.
“We will advocate against draft legislation/policy that seeks to limit rights, stifle innovation or widen access gaps, and we will support those who seek to promote access, rights and innovation.”
The Chief Operating Officer, Nnenna Paul-Ugochukwu, remarked that PIN represented a lot of other voices within the civil society space, which explained why the webinar and the report launch were held together.
Paul-Ugochukwu added that the report was also to present the organisation’s research output and to capture the views of other civil society organisations in its submission to the Federal Government on the draft data protection bill.
