Tens of thousands of Nigerians have banded together online to call for the scrapping of a bill which, they say, threatens to roll back internet freedoms in the country.
The proposed legislation - officially named the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019 - would allow Nigeria's government to cut off internet access or block specific social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter at its own discretion.
"The law enforcement department may direct the NCC [Nigerian Communications Commission] to order the Internet access service provider to disable access by users in Nigeria to the online location and the NCC must give the Internet access service provider access blocking order," it says.
Otherwise known as the Social Media Bill, the proposed act also contains provisions prohibiting statements online deemed "likely to be prejudicial to national security" and "those which may diminish public confidence" in Nigeria's government - offences that would be punishable by fines of up to 300,000 Naira ($825) or imprisonment for up to three years.
Legislators backing the bill, which is advancing through Nigeria's Parliament, claim it will enhance security, peace and unity in Africa's most populous country by curbing the spread of "false statements".
But critics argue it could gag free speech, with many now speaking out via the very platforms they say are at risk of being curtailed.
More than 85,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the bill be done away with. The bill's "aim is to curb our use of social media with the reasoning that the Senate wants to curb the spreading of false information when in reality they want to limit our freedom of speech and our right to criticise them", the petition says.
A campaign on Twitter saw the #SayNoToSocialMediaBill hashtag top the platform's trending charts in Nigeria recently.
"The Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill ... is a backdoor approach to silence critical voices in Nigeria," said Adeboye Adegoke, a digital rights advocate and programme manager at the Nigeria-based social enterprise Paradigm Initiative.
"[It is a] dangerous path to tread ... [and] will serve to provide a legitimate justification for many illegitimate things that the Nigerian government already do," he told Al Jazeera.
Legislative progress
Despite the opposition, the legislation has continued its passage through Nigeria's legislature, passing a second reading and subsequent vote in the Senate in late November.
It has since been moved to the Senate's Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for a period of further consideration which could last up to four weeks.
Senator Godiya Akwashiki, a spokesman for the Nigerian Senate, said the open discussions would allow for citizens' concerns over the effect of the bill to be aired.
"Nigerians still have a say over the bill during the public hearing," Akwashiki told Al Jazeera. "[It] is an opportunity for the general public to express their views, in order [for them] to be captured in the bill."
A spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari meanwhile told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that the government had "not made a position" yet on the act, which was introduced by legislators and has not been sponsored by the administration.
Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised the alarm over the bill's possible effect on public discourse in a country with an estimated 113 million internet users, 30 million of whom are active on social media.
"Social media is one of the last remaining places where Nigerians can express their opinions freely," Seun Bakare, programmes manager for Amnesty's Nigeria branch, said in a statement on December 4.
"The harassment of journalists and bloggers and the introduction of the Cyber Crimes Act have already shrunk the civic space and created a climate of fear," Bakare added, citing a 2015 piece of legislation that criminalised a broad range of online activity.
'Problematic for many reasons'
Other critics have meanwhile argued the legislation would not only prove restrictive, but also ineffective.
Berhan Taye, a senior policy analyst at global internet advocacy organisation Access Now and leader of the group's #KeepItOn campaign in Africa, said the bill was "extremely problematic for many reasons".
According to Taye, the provisions allowing for internet access to be cut off would not solve more fundamental problems about the veracity of content being shared online - a major talking point in Nigeria's latest presidential election in February.
"An internet shutdown does not solve the problems of disinformation and misinformation," Taye told Al Jazeera, adding that "fake news is a global problem".
Any such move could also have major ramifications for Nigeria's economy, with a 24-hour blackout projected to cost $134m, according to the Cost of Shutdown Tool developed by non-profit organisation The Internet Society and Netblocks, a non-governmental internet governance observatory.
However, supporters of the Social Media Bill have cast aside such concerns, arguing it can be applied effectively and deliver transformative security benefits.
Senator Muhammad Sani Musa, a member of Buhari's political party and a co-sponsor of the legislation, said it would help stop the spread of fake news in Nigeria and hence curtail groups seeking to undermine the country's cohesion.
"Individuals and groups influenced by ideologies and deep-seated prejudices in different countries are using internet falsehood to surreptitiously promote their causes, as we have seen in Nigeria with the insurgency of Boko Haram," Musa said while defending the bill in November.
By Timileyin Omilana
Al Jazeera
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Video - Nigeria's State oil firm hits $14 million trading surplus in August
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced a trading surplus of about $14M for the month of August this year. This reflects a 22% increase in revenue, compared to roughly $12M recorded in July.
Nigerian Prince sentenced to death for killing former boss
A Nigerian prince has been sentenced to death by hanging for strangling a politician to death so he could steal her business.
Prince Adewale Oyekan, 50, son of the late Adeyinka Oyekan II, the 23rd Oba of Lagos, murdered businesswoman and politician Alhaja Sikirat Ekun in 2012.
The prince, who managed Ms Ekun's restaurant in the Nigerian capital, recruited her former servant Lateef Balogun, 27, paying him £12.59 to conspire with him.
The pair strangled the 62-year-old before dumping her body down a 1,000ft well at her home and covered it with a generator and gas cylinder, local media reported.
After her murder they took over her businesses and property, including a bus which was flogged for £360.
Balogun had been employed by Ms Ekun to care for her elderly father but had been sacked following a dispute.
The prince had returned to Nigeria in 2003 following the death of his father, who reigned from 1965 until his death as the ceremonial sovereign of Lagos.
The Oba, a pacifist and peacemaker throughout his reign, was a qualified pharmacist and had served in the Third Field Ambulance 81st West Africa Division in Burma during WWII.
The prince had been studying architecture in the States when his father died. His mother had been living in the US until her death in 2001.
The court heard that Ms Ekun had helped the prince on his return, offering him a job at the restaurant and allowing him to stay at her home.
On October 17, 2012, the prince and his accomplice Balogun strangled Ms Ekun at her home in the Ojodu neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Lagos.
When her family inquired as to her whereabouts the high court heard that the prince sent them a text message claiming Ms Ekun had travelled to Abuja for a religious festival.
Two months later an extensive search of her home by well diggers and firefighters uncovered her corpse.
Their trial began at the Ikeja High Court in April 2015. Both men denied knowing each other, claiming they had first met at the police station.
Prince Adewale told the court that he had met Ms Ekun at a People's Democratic Party rally after returning from his architecture studies in the United States.
Before sentence was passed on Monday, the murderers' defence counsel Mr O. C. Onwumerie declined to plead for clemency.
'I will be leaving sentencing to the hands of the court,' the lawyer said.
Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, during the two-hour hearing, said: 'The circumstantial evidence was strong and cogent; the act of the defendants in killing the deceased was intentional and premeditated.
'The court finds that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the offences of conspiracy and murder and are accordingly found guilty of the two-count charge.'
She outlined that the sentence for murder was death, telling the court: 'The first and second defendants are hereby sentenced on each of counts one and two, to death by hanging. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on your souls.'
Daily Mail
Prince Adewale Oyekan, 50, son of the late Adeyinka Oyekan II, the 23rd Oba of Lagos, murdered businesswoman and politician Alhaja Sikirat Ekun in 2012.
The prince, who managed Ms Ekun's restaurant in the Nigerian capital, recruited her former servant Lateef Balogun, 27, paying him £12.59 to conspire with him.
The pair strangled the 62-year-old before dumping her body down a 1,000ft well at her home and covered it with a generator and gas cylinder, local media reported.
After her murder they took over her businesses and property, including a bus which was flogged for £360.
Balogun had been employed by Ms Ekun to care for her elderly father but had been sacked following a dispute.
The prince had returned to Nigeria in 2003 following the death of his father, who reigned from 1965 until his death as the ceremonial sovereign of Lagos.
The Oba, a pacifist and peacemaker throughout his reign, was a qualified pharmacist and had served in the Third Field Ambulance 81st West Africa Division in Burma during WWII.
The prince had been studying architecture in the States when his father died. His mother had been living in the US until her death in 2001.
The court heard that Ms Ekun had helped the prince on his return, offering him a job at the restaurant and allowing him to stay at her home.
On October 17, 2012, the prince and his accomplice Balogun strangled Ms Ekun at her home in the Ojodu neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Lagos.
When her family inquired as to her whereabouts the high court heard that the prince sent them a text message claiming Ms Ekun had travelled to Abuja for a religious festival.
Two months later an extensive search of her home by well diggers and firefighters uncovered her corpse.
Their trial began at the Ikeja High Court in April 2015. Both men denied knowing each other, claiming they had first met at the police station.
Prince Adewale told the court that he had met Ms Ekun at a People's Democratic Party rally after returning from his architecture studies in the United States.
Before sentence was passed on Monday, the murderers' defence counsel Mr O. C. Onwumerie declined to plead for clemency.
'I will be leaving sentencing to the hands of the court,' the lawyer said.
Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, during the two-hour hearing, said: 'The circumstantial evidence was strong and cogent; the act of the defendants in killing the deceased was intentional and premeditated.
'The court finds that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the offences of conspiracy and murder and are accordingly found guilty of the two-count charge.'
She outlined that the sentence for murder was death, telling the court: 'The first and second defendants are hereby sentenced on each of counts one and two, to death by hanging. May God, the giver of life, have mercy on your souls.'
Daily Mail
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Netflix debuts Nigeria’s ‘Crazy, Lovely, Cool’ TV sitcom
The series is a joint production between The Nollywood Factory, owned by award-winning director Obi Emelonye and Trace TV.
The film was shot in 2017 inside the picturesque campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. It explores the interesting activities of university undergraduates and their lecturers in a typical Nigerian university.
The dynamic hour-long drama series is filled with many familiar faces like Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Uru Eke, Zynell Zuh, Anthony Monjaro, and Enyinna Nwigwe.
With over two decades of experience in filmmaking, Emelonye is renowned for telling Nigerian stories with a universal appeal. He has his imprint on some of Nollywood’s most successful productions, including the much-awaited biopic, ‘Badamasi: Portrait of a General’ which tells the story of General Ibrahim Babangida.
PMNews
Nigeria university lecturer sacked over sexual harassment
The University of Abuja in the Nigerian capital has dismissed one of its lecturers over sexual harassment.
A female student had alleged that the lecturer, a professor, had demanded sex in exchange for marks.
The university said it had acted after reviewing the report of a panel set up to investigate the allegations.
In October, the BBC's Africa Eye investigative programme exposed sexual misconduct by lecturers at two top West African universities.
The revelations in the "Sex for grades" documentary led to the suspension of some lecturers at both the University of Lagos in Nigeria and the University of Ghana.
A separate BBC Africa Eye investigation in December uncovered an illegal network that lured women to India from Africa, where they were then forced into sex work to satisfy the demands of the many African men living in Delhi.
BBC
A female student had alleged that the lecturer, a professor, had demanded sex in exchange for marks.
The university said it had acted after reviewing the report of a panel set up to investigate the allegations.
In October, the BBC's Africa Eye investigative programme exposed sexual misconduct by lecturers at two top West African universities.
The revelations in the "Sex for grades" documentary led to the suspension of some lecturers at both the University of Lagos in Nigeria and the University of Ghana.
A separate BBC Africa Eye investigation in December uncovered an illegal network that lured women to India from Africa, where they were then forced into sex work to satisfy the demands of the many African men living in Delhi.
BBC
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