The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) announces the release of a Whitepaper Framework for an Online Harms Protection Bill in Nigeria. This pivotal document was developed in collaboration with Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), an Africa-focused non-profit dedicated to advancing digital innovation and inclusive policy development. In July 2022, the whitepaper was developed as part of a collaborative initiative to tackle the escalating challenge of online harm in Nigeria. It builds on discussions and key insights from Nigeria’s inaugural Content Moderation and Online Safety Summit, hosted by API.
Online harms, whitepaper provides context on the prevalence of and the need for action, highlighting the government’s effort through various agencies to propose solutions to protect citizens and children online. The paper analyses efforts from other jurisdictions and proffers a range of ideas considered for developing a framework in Nigeria. It provides rich resources on relevant conceptual ideas critical to the debate on approaches for regulatory action to combat online harms.
The whitepaper serves 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. The whitepaper is not intended to be final document to define the contours of online harm in Nigeria. Rather, it will be the basis for engagement with other relevant regulators, the security sector, civil society organizations, local and international internet platforms, businesses and the wider public. Therefore, the whitepaper does not present sole opinions of NITDA, but rather aggregated ideas based on research to guide regulatory options for meaningful engagement around online harms.
NITDA and API, aims to spark a national conversation on online harms, 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 Agency appreciates 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 and thanked the project’s secretariat for their dedication, hard work in compiling the research to produce the whitepaper. We look forward to future engagements, conversations as we improve Nigeria’s digital economy and create a safe space for all to access the Internet as a shared resource.
Please download or read the Whitepaper via this link: https://links.nitda.gov.ng/ohpb
Signed
Mrs Hadiza Umar fnipr, f.apra
Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations
NITDA
