Nigeria Begins Mobile Phones Surveillance

Nigerian law enforcement officers could soon be able to freely monitor and intercept the communications of Nigerian citizens on behalf of the Federal government. This includes phone calls, text messages, chat messages and emails, in a way which could violate the country's constitution.

In February Nigeria's Communications Commission (NCC) released a draft policy on lawful interception and it is currently inviting tenders from surveillance companies on behalf of the federal government to compete for contracts. The NCC claims it is drawing upon powers Section 70 of the 2003 Nigerian Communications Act, which it says provide a legal and regulatory framework to allow the lawful interception of communications in the interests of national security, or for the purposes of preventing a crime.

Nigeria has serious problems with kidnapping, organised crime and terrorism, but the draft policy has been widely condemned by Nigerian citizens. Concerns have been raised about unscrupulous security agents and law enforcement officials using the access and information at their disposal to their own advantage, or the government using the regulation to crack down upon the opposition.

The policy would allow the NCC unhindered access to communications through a regulation, rather than through actual legislation that's been debated and voted upon by Nigeria's National Assembly, and would be presided over by the judiciary. There are concerns that the policy may violate the country's 1999 constitution -- which protects the individual's fundamental right to privacy -- as well as privacy rights enshrined in international human rights law, and that the requisite safeguards to prevent abuse have not been put in place.

Journalists and mobile network operators are calling for proper legislative backing from the National Assembly, as if the policy is not entrenched in law, it will not need to be debated, will not be subject to public input and may not provide them with adequate protection operators with adequate protection from cyber-attacks. It also means that once the policy is in place, it can't easily be amended and adjusted, without going through the proper legislative procedures.

 However it is vital that any country that uses lawful interception does it according to necessity, proportionality and with proper judicial oversight in order to protect the right to privacy of its citizens.

I hope the Nigerian police will not go to town with this one. Are you in support of this move?