A new Nigeria digital rights bill introduced in the House of Representatives

A new digital rights bill underwent its first reading at Nigeria’s House of Representatives on 16 July 2019. The reading comes following consultations with stakeholders after President Buhari declined to assent to a similar bill earlier in the year.

The Paradigm Initiative, one of the civil society organisations that had advocated for the first bill, stated that they had held consultations to ensure that the president’s reservations were addressed in the current bill. In a letter to the Senate, President Buhari had explained that the bill covered too many technical subjects that had not been extensively addressed.

The digital rights bill seeks to promote human rights on the Internet and to protect Nigerian Internet users from infringement of their rights online. If passed, it would be the first of its kind on the African continent.