Nigeria Parliament Urged to Withdraw Bill

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a civil society group in Nigeria, has called on the country’s heads of legislative bodies to withdraw the Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

SERAP called on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the Green Chambers (House of Representatives), Tajudeen Abbas, to immediately withdraw the bill or face legal action from it, especially if the bill becomes an ACT (Passed into law).

SERAP, in a letter at the weekend, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, described the bill before the National Assembly (NASS) as “a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and expand governmental control over online expression” SERAP, in the letter, argued that the bill is incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights standards.

The Social Media Amendment Bill is sponsored by the senator representing Delta North in the Senate, Senator Ned Nwoko of the APC. The bill attempts to force social media platforms, data controllers, and data processors operating in the country to have physical offices in Nigeria. The bill, if it becomes law, will empower the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to prohibit or shut down the operations of firms that fail to meet a 30-day deadline.

SERAP insist that the amendment could effectively achieve the same outcome as the Federal Government’s 2021 suspension of Twitter, which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice ruled violated the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom.

The organisation also warned that mandatory localisation requirements would undermine Nigeria’s digital economy by increasing compliance costs for startups, educational institutions, research organisations, artificial intelligence developers and smaller technology companies.

Source: MRA