FG to establish special online regulation centre, council
The Federal Government is planning to establish an online regulation centre and council that will specially regulate activities of big tech companies and other private individuals. Director General of the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Malam Kashifu Inuwa disclosed that the centre would be a semi-autonomous agency that would work with all critical […]
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The Federal Government is planning to establish an online regulation centre and council that will specially regulate activities of big tech companies and other private individuals.
Director General of the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Malam Kashifu Inuwa disclosed that the centre would be a semi-autonomous agency that would work with all critical stakeholders, including regulators, civil society and big tech companies.
Inuwa said the council would be established to support the centre “so that it’s not one agency or one organization making decisions for all.”
He said the bodies would ensure the online regulation is balanced and not in favour of any stakeholder.
The NITDA DG spoke at the workshop on the Online Harm Protection (OHP) Bill organised by NITDA in Abuja.
“Everything is converging. That’s why we need this law. We need it now. And this is not a law for government or for big tech or for civil society. It is for all of us as citizens. “So we need to look at it from the citizens’ lens, not the consumer lens. Then we look at it, how can we institutionalize it? How can we have an institutional framework that will ensure balanced regulation? So we think of having online harm protection center, like a semi-autonomous agency that will work with all critical stakeholders, including regulators, civil society, big tech.
“Then we also think of having a council so that it’s not one agency or one organization making decisions for all”, Inuwa said.
He also revealed that the federal government is thinking of having an online regulation redress panel.
He said: “If you think something is not being done in a fair manner, you can challenge, you can appeal to the process. And we also think of having independent oversight bodies where the civil society will come and see. The media will be there. Nobody will say, government, we want to guard the media. Or the civil society will not start protesting. You should come and oversee what we do at the center. And for the big techs, we want them to be more accountable. We want them to increase accountability, to safeguard the privacy of our citizens, and to protect our democracy.”