Nigerians Speak on Internet Governance

The June 23rd meeting of the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria on Internet Governance threw up the big picture of Nigeria’s position in the information society and the opportunity the country now have to correct some of her mistakes of the past by participating in the soon to be completed global discourse on Internet Governance.

Why discourse Internet Governance? This question revealed the porosity of our existing law in prosecuting cybercrime offenders who usually explore the loopholes to beat any penalty for such crime. The overall effect of this is that the country can not fully tap into the opportunities of eCommerce as investors must feel secured wherever they put their money. Let’s look at it this way, no country is 100% safe but at least you feel some level of security when you know that anyone that commits any offence against you will be prosecuted and you could eventually get justice. Now imagine a situation where an offence is committed against you but the culprit can not be prosecuted because the offence was not committed within the physical boundary recognized by the law but on the outer electronic space called the Internet. The good news is that steps are now at an advanced stage to correct the problem with the bills that speaks on the subject before the senate. However, the pros and cons of the bills are also a subject of a heated debate among Nigerian IT experts.

A strong concern expressed by the CSO present at the meeting was that of IT capacity building in Nigerians. They strongly believed that it is only an educated and informed society is that will appreciate the many issues, technical or legal, surrounding Internet Governance and the fact that those formulating our policies and laws and the judiciary also need this capacity building.

What should Nigeria say? Every country is speaking, so what should Nigeria say on Internet Governance? There are two key areas Nigeria’s input into the discourse should address. They are cybercrime and e-commerce. Nigeria is, in my opinion, unfairly assumed the leader in cybercrime. It is very common to see many websites dedicated to stories on cybercrimes purportedly committed by Nigerians. Nigeria thus needs to make a very strong statement to correct this. If not, we may see some countries making recommendations that internet traffic from Nigeria should be blocked or really scrutinized, just as Nigerians are treated at some foreign airports.

Nigeria should also take the lead in Africa to sound the continent’s readiness for the full potentials of e-commerce. The banking reform in the country is one example that will show our positive steps in this direction. The volume of financial transactions made by Africans is also another strong selling point. The report of the Western Union last year showed that the amount of money sent by Africans in diaspora to Africa exceeds the totals grants that came into Africa from donor agencies during the same period. This really something to cheer.

Now, what do you have to say? There is an opportunity for you to contribute to Nigeria’s position on this. The deadline to submit inputs to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA http://www.ntia.doc.gov/) is July 7. Thus, it is advisable that you have your input into the process ready latest by June 30.

If you are a member of the IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Section and you want to make an input into the process, you could send such to gadyemo@theiet.org while other groups and individuals should send theirs to me@gbengasesan.com. Sending inputs as groups will greatly reduce the workload of compiling the final draft for those that will do so.