Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has issued a stern warning to the leadership of the National Assembly, urging the immediate withdrawal of the Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which it describes as a "backdoor attempt" to regulate social media and tighten government control over online expression. In a letter dated July 18, 2026, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP told Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas that it would take legal action if the bill is passed in its current form.
The Bill, sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North), seeks to compel social media platforms, data controllers and data processors operating in Nigeria to establish physical offices in the country. It also empowers the Nigeria Data Protection Commission to shut down or prohibit the operations of any entity that fails to comply within 30 days. According to SERAP, the Bill would create "sweeping powers capable of shutting down or excluding social media platforms from the Nigerian market and expose millions of Nigerians to serious violations of their constitutionally and internationally guaranteed human rights".
SERAP argued that the Bill constitutes a "backdoor attempt" to regulate social media through corporate localisation requirements rather than through transparent and constitutionally permissible regulation. The organisation warned that mandatory local offices would "increase government leverage over platforms, facilitate political pressure, make censorship demands easier and expose local employees to retaliation". It further argued that the Bill lacks key procedural safeguards, including prior judicial authorisation, adequate opportunities for compliance, and consideration of less restrictive alternatives before platforms can be shut down.
SERAP also drew attention to the fact that the Bill risks recreating the dangers previously condemned by the ECOWAS Court of Justice. In the case of SERAP and Others v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Court held that the suspension of Twitter violated the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom protected under the African Charter. The rights group warned: "Although the present Bill differs from the Twitter suspension in form, it creates the possibility of achieving the same result indirectly by empowering regulators to prohibit digital platforms from operating in Nigeria".
SERAP maintained that there is no evidence that existing provisions under the Nigeria Data Protection Act are inadequate or that the proposed measures satisfy the constitutional tests of necessity and proportionality. It also warned that the legislation would undermine Nigeria's digital economy by increasing compliance costs for startups, AI developers, educational institutions and smaller technology firms, making the country less attractive for innovation and investment. The organisation urged the National Assembly to withdraw the bill, insisting that it is incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution as well as Nigeria's obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It added that if the bill is enacted "in its current or substantially similar form," it would "promptly take all appropriate legal actions to challenge its legality in the public interest and to ensure that Nigerians' fundamental rights are fully protected".
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