SERAP Asks N’Assembly to Withdraw Data Protection Bill, Threatens Legal Action

Chuks Okocha in Abuja 

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has called on Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to withdraw the Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

The rights group argued that the bill, sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North), was an indirect attempt to regulate social media and expand government control over online expression through stricter compliance requirements for digital platforms.

In a letter dated July 18, 2026, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the proposal posedd a serious threat to freedom of expression and digital rights in Nigeria.

According to the organisation, the bill would require social media companies, data controllers and data processors operating in Nigeria to establish physical offices within the country.

It also empowered the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to suspend or prohibit the operations of any entity that fails to comply within 30 days.

SERAP maintained that the requirement for local offices would expose digital platforms to greater government pressure and make censorship easier.

“The Bill constitutes a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and increase governmental control over online expression through corporate localisation requirements rather than through transparent and constitutionally permissible regulation,” the organisation stated.

It warned that the proposed amendment could give regulators broad powers to remove digital platforms from Nigeria, affecting millions of citizens who depend on social media for communication, business, education, access to information and civic participation.

Drawing comparisons with the Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter in 2021, SERAP said the bill could produce similar consequences despite using a different approach.

“Although the present Bill differs from the Twitter suspension in form, it creates the possibility of achieving the same result indirectly by empowering regulators to prohibit digital platforms from operating in Nigeria,” the letter read.