The Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, made a perfect hit last week when it chose the platform of the
Social Media Week which held in Lagos from February 22-26, 2016, to draw the
attention of netizens to the Cybercrime Act which was signed into law in May 15,
2015.
Addressing a very youthful
population who mostly live their life in the cyber ecosystem, the Executive
Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Garba
Danbatta charged them to acquaint themselves with the contents of the Act in
order to be properly guided in their cyber operations.
Speaking through Mr Tony Ojobo,
Director, Public Affairs, at the main stage event, Danbatta observed that the
Cybercrime Act has become law since May last year; it was therefore imperative for
New Media practitioners to familiarise themselves with the contents of the law
as it affects their practice. Pointing to various sections of the Act, he
explained that the Act does not encumber freedom of expression as erroneously
believed but instead it seeks to protect those whose freedom may be damaged by
the freedom freely expressed by others.
For instance, Section 24 of the
Act, Danbatta pointed out, deals with Cyber stalking and prescribes punishment
for "Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other
matter by means of computer system or network " which, among others,
"he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience
danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation , enmity, hatred,
ill will or needless anxiety to another or cause such message to be sent:
Commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine
of not more than N7, 000, 000. 00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3
years, or to both such fine and imprisonment."
In addition to Danbatta's paper,
the Commission raised a team of technocrats and industry practitioners to help
bring more understanding to the document which everybody agreed is still very
fresh in the public domain. In fact a blogger who was one of the first victims
of the Act and spent some weeks in Ikoyi prisons while waiting to perfect his bail, threw the
gathering into some bout of laugher when he informed that his lawyers were
arguing over the existence of the Act
even as he was being shepherded to his temporary home.
The discussants include: Messrs.
Nnamdi Nwokike, Director, Corporate Planning and Strategy, NCC; Taiwo Obe,
Founder and Director, Journalism Clinic; Mideno Bayagbon, Editor, Vanguard
Newspapers; Basorun Adetunji, New Media and Information Security, NCC;
Folorunso Mesele, Information Technology, NCC; and Mrs. Afure Iloka, Legal and
Regulatory, NCC.
In his intervention, Danbatta who
acknowledged the contribution of the media to the growth of the
telecommunication industry, and also in bringing the sector to global
attention, pledged that under his watch the NCC would be happy to associate
with anything that can add value to the practice of journalism, especially in
the area of capacity building, and thus help to prevent unpleasant consequences
arising from needless infractions.
The panel which shared some of
the sentiments expressed in Danbatta's interventions also agreed on the
following: although there is press freedom, such freedom must be exercised with
responsibility; the things we do in the practice of our profession can hurt
others very badly and cause them so much distress in life; media practitioners
should desist from racist and xenophobic offences which include tribal and
religious profiling; there is the need to be informed that computer has gone
beyond that mainframe in that office, the desktop or the laptop which can send
messages, to include the small handheld devices that are quite pervasive
nowadays; the Act deals copiously with child pornography and is quite explicit
on the fact that you do not need to be the originator of content before
committing an infraction; there is the need to study the Act to know what
constitutes financial crimes in electronic transactions.
Although the NCC could enjoy some
satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment from the confessions of some of the key
participants that they had never heard or seen the Act before the NCC Session
at the Social Media Week, there were quite a few people like Omoyole Sowore of
Sahara Reporters and Gbenga Sesan of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria who were unhappy with the content as it could
affect new media practice, while some saw it as the handwork of some
politicians who do not want their corrupt lifestyle to be reported.
Further, Prof Danbatta hailed the
quality of discourse and noted that the Commission has achieved a major aim of
initiating dialogue on a vital document that could have far reaching effects on
social relationships, businesses and modern lifestyle.
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!
Pix: Danbatta, NCC EVC.
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