• Digital technologies have become a key driver of civic, social and economic life in Nigeria, playing a role in every sphere, from banking and commerce to journalism, political mobilisation and the day-to-day exercise of freedom of expression. Whilst these interactions are generally positive, a growing proportion of them involve behaviour that breaches the law or threatens users’ digital rights, particularly in relation to privacy, freedom of expression and personal safety online. The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act of 2015 (as amended in 2024) was enacted to address these risks by making acts committed via computer systems criminal offences, protecting critical national information infrastructure and ensuring the safety of Nigerians in cyberspace.
   
  More than a decade after its adoption, however, this law is characterised by a fundamental paradox. Provisions originally intended to combat fraud, identity theft and the sexual exploitation of children have been systematically misused to harass journalists, silence online critics and intimidate whistleblowers, particularly through Section 24 (cyberbullying), both before and after its amendment in 2024. At the same time, the genuine victims of cybercrime – particularly women, older people and users living in rural areas – rarely obtain justice.

   

  Police officers at divisional level lack the training, tools and procedural guidance necessary to investigate digital offences competently, and digital evidence is all too often mishandled, contested or lost. As for judges, there is a need to strengthen their capacity and upgrade their skills so that they can understand the technical and legal aspects of cybercrime.

   

  These trends intensify during election cycles. Outside election periods, persistent challenges – such as data misuse, cyberbullying and a lack of accountability – continue to erode public trust. Civil society, journalists, bloggers and campaigners report a climate in which the line between legitimate law enforcement and rights violations has become blurred. For example, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, by 2024, at least 29 media professionals had been prosecuted under the cybercrime law since it came into force in 2015. At the same time, citizens lack reliable channels through which to understand their rights, report abuses or seek redress.
  
  This project aims to address these shortcomings through an integrated approach combining: (i) a study combining action research and a critical analysis of the shortcomings in the cybercrime law, as well as solutions to remedy them; (ii) capacity-building for institutional and civil society actors to ensure that the law is implemented in a manner that respects rights; (iii) legal assistance and strategic legal action to challenge the application of this law in the courts where it undermines the protection of human rights, in particular digital rights; (iv) the establishment of monitoring, oversight and transparency mechanisms to coordinate action against abuses of the law; and (v) raising awareness amongst young people and students through education on digital rights. Fundamentally, this project aims to improve the implementation of the existing legislative framework.

   

  The target states were strategically selected to ensure a regional balance between Enugu (in the east), Lagos (in the west) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) (in the north). The FCT offers direct proximity to federal policymakers, regulatory authorities, judicial bodies and the headquarters of the main law enforcement agencies, enabling the implementation of the law to be coordinated using a top-down approach. Lagos is Nigeria’s commercial capital and strategic digital hub. It is here that the highest number of cybercrime prosecutions, technological innovations and vulnerabilities relating to digital rights are found. Enugu State is a key regional pillar and a rapidly expanding technology hub in the south-east. It provides a crucial regional benchmark for assessing the application of cybersecurity measures outside the major federal and economic centres.

   

Ambassade des Pays-Bas