By Isa Isawade
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has threatened to take the leadership of the National Assembly to court if it fails to reverse what it terms as “repressive bill” to regulate the activities of bloggers in Nigeria.
The body urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas to immediately withdraw the bill to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, which seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers within the ‘territorial boundaries of Nigeria.’
SERAP urged the duo of Akpabio and Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It urged the assembly leadership to end the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and on Internet-based contents.
The contentious bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters”.
The bill, among others, seeks to regulate bloggers including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers. The bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter dated 12 April 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.’
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“The bill may also be used to block access of Nigerians to social media platforms. Blocking access to social media platforms is a flagrant violation of fundamental rights.
“In addition to infringing on Nigerians’ right to access to information and digital technology, the proposed bill would also severely hamper business operations in the country, as many are reliant on foreign tools, services and technologies for their operations, as well as other sectors that rely on online information.
“The bill would force international tech companies out of the Nigerian information landscape by requiring them to establish/register and maintain physical offices in the country. It would violate the requirement that the right to freedom of expression applies ‘regardless of frontiers.’”
The organisation, therefore, said should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill and should it be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, “SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest.”
