DATE: Friday, 25 th August, 2023
Venue: Department of Mass Communication, ABU
TIME: 9am
INTRODUCTION:
As human activities continue to migrate online, the ability of citizens to freely work online,
express themselves digitally and collectively have become critical to democracy. These abilities
to function in the digital space are referred to as Digital Rights. Digital Rights are simply the
extension of our rights online and the expression and projection of our fundamental human
rights which are protected by all existing international human rights instruments that have
been domesticated by Nigeria as well as incorporated in our constitution. Because of the
recency of digital rights, there is a lacuna in their legal protection, allowing for routine misused
by some actors. As part of the efforts to address this, in the past, following robust discussions
and debates by stakeholders, sustained advocacy by civil society groups, the Digital Rights and
Freedom Bill was passed by the National Assembly in 2018. However, in early 2019, the
president declined assent and since the National Assembly did not override the President, the
Bill failed.
As part of the effort to create awareness on the area and bring more people to campaign and
advocate for the passage of the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill in the country, the Centre for
Information Technology and Development (CITAD) organized a one day public discussion on
digital rights. The discussants at the panel were Professor Abdul Hamid Abdullahi, a digital
rights activist, Dr. Musa Bara’u Gamji, a lecturer of Digital Communication at the department of
Mass Communication, ABU and Mss. Joy Gadani, Journalist and Digital Rights advocate. The
discussion was moderated by Dr. Kabiru Lawanti of the Department of Mas Communication,
ABU. The panel of discussion was organized to:
i. Create awareness among the students and faculty of the institution on the need and
importance of the Digital Rights and internet freedom in the country
ii. Galvanize students’ voices who will champion the cause for the Digital Rights and
Internet Freedom in the country
Opening the discussion, the head of the department of Mass Communication who served as the
host, Dr. Adama Adamu, began by appreciating the gesture offered by CITAD to collaborate
with department in the discussion which she described as a life changing one. Dr. Adama also
stated that the issue of digital rights nowadays is an important one that needs to be taken
seriously by all. She went further to state that as a department that solely designed to create
awareness and enlighten the general public about anything that has to do with their lives,
especially on the digital ecosystem, the discussion is timely.
Dr. Adama noted that the event came at right time, considering the significant number of youth
that are joining the social media every day. The participants of the discussion were 99% youth
who are, in some ways, abusing or being abused on the social media platforms. The university
don added that being the participants are media students, the event will add more value to
their educational journey as many of them will soon be out of school to start practicing what
they have learned. In one way or the other, they must be confronted with the issue of digital
rights.
In conclusion, she urged the participants to pay attention to what will be discussed by the
panelists.
In his welcome address at the event, the Executive Director of CITAD, Malam YZ Ya’u, who was
represented by the Centre’s Program officer, Digital Rights stated that Centre is committed to
creating awareness in the area of digital rights and ensuring that people’s rights and privacy
online are protected and respected always. He noted that, the Centre has been working for the
past five years in the area which include creating awareness, training of journalists, activists and
human rights defenders. Other significant activities conducted by the Centre in this area include
advocacies, workshops and capacity building.
Speaking further, Malam YZ emphasized on the importance of engaging young people in the
area of creating awareness around digital rights as they constitute the larger part of online
users online. And this engagement will help them to protect their rights online. He also
emphasized that the choice of the participants and collaboration with the department is not
accidental, rather a strategic one. Because media students are one of the key components in
creating awareness among the larger populace. By doing so, the knowledge shared will reach
thousands of users across the country.
Speaking at the panel of discussion, Professor Abdul Hamid Abdullahi initiated his discourse on
the importance and the necessity for the internet users to protect and safeguard their profiles,
which he described as their second home. According him, as users are increasingly migrating
their activities online, there is need to ensure the protection of their profiles, just as they
ensure the safeguarding of their physical environment. Expanding on this point, he underscored
the significance of employing strong password and not entrusting anyone with their online
activities.
Professor Abdul Hamid also highlighted that frequently, people who engaged in online bullying
are often close friends and family members who somehow gain access to private conversations,
pictures or videos that are not meant to be in the public domain. Discussing on the need for
everyone to be digitally included, the university don stated that as citizens and online savvy
there is need for the participants to be involved in the campaign for ensuring the internet is
affordable and accessible for everyone, especially those at the rural communities. Giving a
statistics on the percentage of those who are digitally excluded, Professor Abdul Hamid said as
at 2022, more than 60% of the country’s population are not being connected to the internet. He
cited that CITAD Community Network initiative as a trailblazer for connecting more
communities, providing an example of efforts towards more inclusion.
In her presentation, Mss. Joy Gadani took the participants through the efforts CITAD’s Digital
Rights Champions are making to ensure the digital rights of the citizens are protected, and by
extension, ensuring the passage of the digital rights and freedom bill in the country. She
highlighted various efforts made by champions such as capacity buildings, awareness creation
and advocacies.
Drawing from her experience as a journalist, Mss. Gadani delved into the implication of the
Cybercrime Act and it utilization by the security agencies to suppress the voice of the journalists
and activists in the country. She gave examples with some journalists arrested by security
agencies for expressing their rights and opinions online. Within her discussion, the digital
journalist, pointed out the escalating instances of bullying, cyber harassment, cyber stocking
and surveillance, particularly by security agencies and their private agents.
To curtail the occurrence of these, Mss. Gadani said citizens, especially young people must rise
up and ensure the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill is being passed in the country.
In her conclusion, she stressed the importance for the participants, who were mostly journalism
students to always avail themselves with relevant laws in the area so as not fall victims of those
who want gauge the voice of the majority.
The last presenter, Dr. Musa Bara’u Gamji focused his discussion on the just signed Data
Protection Bill. He discussed some of the important points that the participants need to know
about the bill as prospective journalists. Also, he discussed the issue of being responsible online
and avoiding things that will land internet users into trouble.
The discussion was attended by more than 500 hundred participants from the university.
