NHRC, AccountabilityLab Seek Coordinated Response to Digital Rights Violations

* Agencies, CSOs move to bridge complaint-resolution gaps, restore confidence in access to justice

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and AccountabilityLab Nigeria have called for stronger inter-agency collaboration and coordinated mechanisms to ensure that victims of digital rights violations can access justice promptly and effectively.

The call was made on Wednesday at a multi-stakeholder convening on ‘Building a Coordinated Response System for Digital Rights Violations,’ where representatives of government institutions, regulatory agencies, civil society organisations, the legal profession, the media, and the telecommunications and technology sectors examined gaps in the response to rights abuses in Nigeria’s digital space.

The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu, said the meeting had become necessary amid the growing importance of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem to civic engagement, investigative journalism, democratic dialogue and the exercise of constitutional freedoms.

Ojukwu questioned whether existing mechanisms were sufficiently coordinated to respond swiftly, effectively and accountably when citizens’ rights were violated within or through the digital environment.

He noted that while civil society organisations documented abuses, the media exposed systemic violations and legal practitioners initiated legal proceedings, responses often remained fragmented, with unclear referral pathways, inadequate procedures for preserving digital evidence and delays in handling high-stakes cases.

The NHRC Executive Secretary stressed that constitutional protections for human dignity, privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association applied equally online and offline.

He further reaffirmed the commission’s statutory mandate under the National Human Rights Commission Act, as amended, to receive and investigate human rights violations, facilitate remedies for victims, examine laws and policies against human rights standards, and collaborate with government and non-governmental institutions.

Ojukwu said the commission was prepared to serve as an anchor for the proposed collaborative framework but emphasised that sustainable protection of digital rights required the collective participation of law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, regulatory authorities, civil society organisations, technology platforms and telecommunications providers.

The executive secretary urged stakeholders to ensure that government actions relating to cybercrime, national security and online harms remained consistent with constitutional safeguards, due process and international human rights obligations.

He referenced the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act of 2024, including the revision of Section 24, and called for rights-based scrutiny of the enforcement of the law.

Ojukwu cautioned against the possibility of statutory enforcement inadvertently restricting constitutionally protected speech, access to information and civic space.

According to him, the need to maintain this balance would become increasingly important ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle, when the digital environment is expected to play a significant role in political discourse, voter mobilisation and public accountability.

He said the protection of democratic processes must go hand in hand with safeguarding the constitutional rights of citizens participating in them.

Ojukwu urged participants to ensure that the outcome of the meeting translated into practical institutional arrangements rather than remaining a collection of recommendations.

He identified eight priority areas for consensus, including the standardisation of complaint-intake mechanisms and the establishment of clearly defined referral pathways between relevant institutions.

Other areas include fast-track channels for urgent or high-risk threats; uniform criteria for documenting and preserving digital evidence; safeguards for complainants, victims and whistleblowers against reprisals; secure and privacy-compliant information sharing; clear triggers for statutory, judicial or public-interest action; and the use of trends in reported violations to inform legislative and policy reforms.

The executive secretary also highlighted the proposed integration of the Ripoti platform into the coordinated response architecture, noting that the platform should serve a purpose beyond documenting complaints.

He said it should facilitate the transition from reporting to referral, referral to remedy, and individual cases to broader structural reforms, while ensuring strict data protection safeguards for affected individuals.

Ojukwu called for the establishment of institutional focal points, secure communication channels, quarterly review mechanisms, joint advocacy initiatives and sustained collaboration with civil society organisations to ensure continuity beyond the convening.

He maintained that the success of the initiative should be measured by tangible outcomes, including whether victims could obtain swift, safe and effective justice, institutions could work together seamlessly, and recurring violations could lead to lasting reforms.

The Country Director of AccountabilityLab Nigeria, Odeh Friday, said the organisation had observed that a significant number of complaints relating to human rights violations were being received but often failed to progress to meaningful resolution.

He said the situation had contributed to a growing reluctance among some Nigerians to report violations, as they feared that their complaints would not result in justice.

“Most Nigerians are no more comfortable in even bringing these, their complaints out because they feel they’ll never get justice,” he said, explaining the need for stronger partnerships capable of restoring public confidence in complaint-handling mechanisms.

According to him, the workshop was designed to create a system through which citizens could understand where to report complaints, how their cases would be handled and which institutions were responsible for addressing specific violations.

He said AccountabilityLab’s work at the grassroots level had enabled it to build relationships and trust with civil society organisations and communities, providing an avenue for receiving reports that might otherwise remain unaddressed.

Odeh identified several issues reported through digital platforms, including digital rights violations, loan shark activities, identity theft and misinformation.

He noted, however, that the existence of complaints did not automatically translate into access to justice, particularly for individuals who lacked the resources or knowledge required to pursue legal remedies through the courts.

Odeh said the partnership with the NHRC was intended to establish an inter-agency coordination mechanism involving relevant government institutions and civil society organisations.

He identified the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre among the institutions whose participation could support the resolution of complaints, alongside other agencies with relevant mandates.

He explained that the objective was to create a system in which complaints could be presented to a coordinated network of stakeholders, allowing participants to determine the appropriate institution to handle each matter and the steps required to achieve resolution.

“First thing for us is that understanding that if people have to get justice from the grassroots or from anywhere they’re complaining, we need to partner with government because most of the time we work on the ground,” he said.

According to him, the proposed mechanism would help clarify the role of first responders, establish appropriate referral channels and provide support to victims throughout the complaint-resolution process.

Odeh further explained that Ripoti was designed as a reporting platform that could help direct complainants to the appropriate government agencies and support them in navigating the justice process.

He said the platform would help identify where a complaint should be directed and facilitate engagement with relevant institutions to improve the possibility of resolution.

The initiative, he noted, was not intended to replace government institutions or judicial processes but to provide a bridge between citizens reporting violations and the agencies responsible for addressing them.

The AccountabilityLab representative emphasised the importance of ensuring that government agencies and civil society organisations understood their respective responsibilities within the proposed coordination system.