Abuja, April 13, 2025 – The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the National Assembly to withdraw its bill to regulate activities of bloggers in Nigeria.
It made the appeal in a letter to the National Assembly signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, and dated April 12, 2025.
SERAP advised Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, and Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to withdraw the bill to amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 to regulate the activities of bloggers in Nigeria.
The 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”.
SERAP says: “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.’”
It advised the leadership of the National Assembly to withdraw the bill immediately or it would take legal action should it be passed by the assembly.
“SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” it said.
