Abel Damina, an ICT expert, says Nigeria is ripe to enact laws that will protect the rights of its citizens to use the digital space.
Damina, Founder of InterHub Spaces, said this during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
The ICT expert made the remark following President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision declining assent to the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill.
The bill was believed to posses content capable of protecting Nigerians who use the internet against rights infringements.
The president declined accent because the bill covered too many technical subjects in one text and in the process failed to address any of them.
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Also, areas covered by the bill such as Surveillance and Data Protection, Lawful Interception of Communications, Data Protection and Retention were already the subject of various bills pending at the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, Damina said that although the president gave reasons for declining assent to the bill, it would protect the rights of Nigerians within the digital space when passed into law.
“When eventually passed into law, Nigeria would join the likes of Brazil, which adopted a similar law in 2014.
“Just like the bills seeking to protect human rights in countries of the world, the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill will guarantee human rights online within the context of emerging innovative technologies and security concerns,” he said.
He said the bill would also increase citizen participation in governance and democracy.
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The ICT expert expressed worry that the Cyber Crime Act of 2016 which sought to check the `excesses’ of online users did not have provisions aimed at protecting the rights of citizens online.
“This bill brings hope for a future where Nigerian citizens’ online rights and freedoms are protected by law just like the cyber crime law checks excesses of people online,”
he said.
According to Damina, many Nigerians now live much of their lives online, and the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill ensures that citizens are protected offline or online.
The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill was conceived by Paradigm Initiative (PIN) with Net Rights Coalition in 2015.
The bill was introduced to parliament in April 2016, sponsored by Hon. Chukwuemeka Ujam, the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications.
