The Nigerian Government has announced the release of a Whitepaper on the prevalence of online harms and the need for action.
The whitepaper was developed to tackle the escalating challenge of online harm in Nigeria.
A statement signed by Hadiza Umar, Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, said that the framework for an Online Harms Protection Bill builds on the discussions and key insights from Nigeria’s inaugural Content Moderation and Online Safety Summit.
The whitepaper, according to the statement, highlights the government’s effort through various agencies to propose solutions to protect citizens and children online.
“It also provides rich resources on relevant conceptual ideas critical to the debate on approaches for regulatory action to combat online harms,” it added.
“The paper further analyses efforts from other jurisdictions and proffers a range of ideas that can be considered for developing a framework in Nigeria.
“The whitepaper will serve as a foundation for stakeholder engagement and developing a comprehensive, collaborative framework for a bill to protect Nigerians as we navigate online and interactive content.
“The whitepaper is not intended to be a final document to define the contours of online harm in Nigeria,” he said.
Nigerian govt initiates legal framework to protects children, citizens from online harm