The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has released a Whitepaper on the Framework for an Online Harms Protection Bill in Nigeria.
The document, which was developed in collaboration with Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), an Africa-focused non-profit civil organisation dedicated to advancing digital innovation and inclusive policy development.
A statement issued by the agency’s Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, indicated that the Whitepaper, which is based on the discussions and key insights from Nigeria’s inaugural Content Moderation and Online Safety Summit, hosted by API in July 2022, was developed as part of a collaborative initiative to tackle the escalating challenge of online harms in the country.
According to the director, the Whitepaper provides context on the prevalence of online harms and the need for action, highlighting the government’s effort through various agencies to propose solutions to protect citizens and children online.
In addition, it also provides rich resources on relevant conceptual ideas critical to the debate on approaches for regulatory action to combat online harms and analyzes efforts from other jurisdictions and proffers a range of ideas that can be considered for developing a framework in Nigeria.
Umar maintained that the whitepaper would serve as a foundation for stakeholder engagement and developing a comprehensive, collaborative framework for a bill to protect Nigerians as we navigate online and interactive content.
She clarified: “The whitepaper is not intended to be a final document to define the contours of online harm in Nigeria. Instead, it will be the basis for engagement with other relevant regulators, the security sector, civil society organisations, local and international internet platforms, businesses and the wider public. Therefore, the whitepaper does not present the sole opinions of NITDA but rather aggregated ideas based on research to guide regulatory options for meaningful engagement around online harms.
“By releasing this whitepaper, NITDA and API aim to spark a national conversation on online harms and contribute to the development of a comprehensive legal framework that protects Nigerian citizens while fostering a vibrant digital ecosystem.
“We urge stakeholders to read this paper thoughtfully and respond with comments, questions and suggestions to theOHPwhitepaper.secretariat@apiintelligence.org with all tips and recommendations. The secretariat will collate these responses and present them to the stakeholder groups for subsequent engagement before developing a relevant Bill”, the director added.
The agency commended the steering team members, drawn mainly from Nigeria’s civil society, who participated in developing the whitepaper, and the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC) representatives for their efforts as steering team members.
It also expressed appreciation to the project’s secretariat team members for their dedication and hard work in compiling the research to produce the whitepaper and expressed the hope for future engagements and conversations as we improve Nigeria’s digital economy and create a safe space for all to use the Internet as a shared resource.
