There is a latest attempt by the Senate to silence Nigerians using a draconian bill titled "A Bill for an Act to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023. The Bill was sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North). The bill, which has already been passed for second reading, mandates social media platforms to have physical and verifiable offices within Nigeria. It also proposed that bloggers operating in Nigeria must have clear records and data of their employees.
Senator Nwoko said the bill was not proposed to attack social media platforms but a way of increasing the revenue of the country through the digital space. He explained that the inability of social media platforms to have identifiable physical offices in Nigeria has led to several challenges which he listed to include, limited representation for resolving user complaints, managing content specific to Nigeria, increasing loss of economic opportunities, employment generation, and legal compliance.
Despite the explanation by the sponsor of the bill and President of the Senate, Chief Godswill Akpabio, the bill obviously seeks to muzzle free speech. It is a retrogressive, unnecessary, and repressive legislation. The proposed amendment bill further contradicts the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Freedom of Information Act. In all ramifications, what the lawmakers intend to achieve is a complete censor of the right to free speech by Nigerians.
It is laughable that Senator Nwoko and his colleagues do not know that modern ICT operations do not require physical space. So, that aspect of the proposed regulation may deter social and digitally driven firms from hosting and continuing their activities in Nigeria. It will be inimical to their operational services.
Even without offices in the country, digital and social media companies are already contributing massively to Nigeria’s tax revenue. This alone explains the fact that the physical office requirement is unnecessary. For instance, in the first six months of 2024, Facebook and other global tech companies paid $2.5 billion in taxes. In addition, these social media firms employ thousands of Nigerians remotely, and that helps to reduce unemployment.
It is, therefore, imperative to ask that if such international social media companies pay their taxes, especially withholding tax on advertisements without any physical presence in Nigeria, provide remote jobs for Nigerians and are liable to sue and be sued in the event of any infractions, what then is the purpose of physical offices?
We align ourselves with the avalanche of calls for the National Assembly to throw into the dustbin the proposed amendment. We also urge the lawmakers to become more responsive to other national and pressing issues and stop this unusual obsession with regulating social media. This proposed amendment, we insist is obnoxious and should not be allowed to come into existence.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has already threatened legal action if the NASS does not withdraw the bill. This is just one of the many embarrassments that the bill will bring to Nigeria if not halted or thrown away. We cannot allow a repeat of the 2020 #Endsars protest because of this piece of wrong legislation.
If any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act has to be done, it should be one that promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and not one that undermines the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.
We maintain that the NASS like the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should end the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and on Internet-based content.
