A civil society organisation, Accountability Lab Nigeria has advocated for the digital rights and data protection for practicing journalists and residents across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State in order to guard against violations.
The Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Odeh Friday, stated this at a One-day community-focused workshop on digital rights, data protection, and accountability, on Tuesday in Lafia, the state capital.
The workshop brought together journalists, creatives, and community actors, among others to discuss digital participation, online risks, and governance challenges in the state.
During his presentation, Friday urged the participants to use their various platforms to educate the public, using ethical reporting practices that emphasises consent, strict confidentiality, and responsible data handling.
While noting that the workshop was organised with support from Luminate, the Country Director advocated that residents of the state should explore emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence as part of ways to ensure their data protection.
He pointed out that while digital rights infractions share regional similarities across Nigeria, local nuances must be identified to force big tech and government institutions to react responsibly.
“We are basically here to support the Nasarawa State people with creating awareness and platforms where they can engage on digital rights and data protection,” Friday said.
He continued, “This is to enable us create awareness where we want to hear what the people have said. The key issues that cut across the state and part of the things we have heard is sexual harassment, surveillance, platform moderation, and every other thing that needs to be said with the people.”
On his part, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Associate of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Alfred Ijeloesa Agu urged the participants to be proactive in speaking against social injustices such as harassments, intimidations and extortions by the people occupying the various government offices, and private individuals across the state.”
He added, “This engagement is an opportunity to build a network of informed and active local actors who can promote awareness, support affected persons, and contribute to inclusive and accountable digital governance in Nasarawa State.”
According to him, the workshop being supported by Luminate, aims to help the participants better engage in multi-stakeholder discussions on digital rights, online safety, and the Nigeria Data Protection Act.