General
SERAP Challenges Buhari to Provide Agreement With Twitter
By Adedapo Adesanya
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to provide a copy of the agreement the federal government had with the social media company, Twitter.
On Wednesday, January 12, the FG announced that it has reached an arrangement with the micro-blogging site to lift the ban it placed on its use in Nigeria on June 4, 2021.
Now, the organisation is calling on the President to use his good offices and leadership position to direct the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, to provide it with a copy of the agreement recently signed with Twitter, and to widely publish the details of any such agreement.
SERAP also urged him to “direct Alhaji Lai Mohammed to clarify the manner and scope in which the agreement with Twitter will be enforced, including whether the agreement incorporates respect for human rights, consistent with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international obligations.”
In a letter dated January 15, 2022, and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “Publishing the agreement would enable Nigerians to scrutinize it, seek legal remedies as appropriate, and ensure that the conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter are not used as pretexts to suppress legitimate discourse.”
SERAP said: “Publishing the agreement with Twitter would also promote transparency, accountability, and help to mitigate threats to Nigerians’ rights online, as well as any interference with online privacy in ways that deter the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression.”
According to SERAP, “Nigerians are entitled to their constitutionally and internationally recognized human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, peaceful assembly, and association, as well as public participation both offline and online.”
“Any agreement with social media companies must meet constitutional and international requirements, including legality, necessity, proportionality, and legitimacy.
“This means that any conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter must meet the requirements of regular legal processes and limit government discretion. Secretly agreed conditions will fail these fundamental requirements.
“The government has a duty to demonstrate that the conditions for lifting the suspension of Twitter would not threaten or violate the enjoyment of Nigerians’ human rights online and that the conditions are in pursuit of a legitimate goal in a democratic society.
“SERAP is concerned that the operation and enforcement of the agreement may be based on broadly worded restrictive laws, which may be used as pretexts to suppress legitimate discourse, interfere with online privacy, and deter the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression,” it also stated.
It added: “For example, the statement by the government announcing the lifting of the suspension of Twitter used overly broad terms and phrases like ‘prohibited publication’, ‘Nigerian laws’, ‘national culture and history’. These open-ended terms and phrases may be used to suppress the legitimate exercise of human rights online.
“Any agreement with social media companies must not be used as a ploy to tighten governmental control over access to the internet, monitor internet activity, or to increase online censorship and the capacity of the government to restrict legitimate online content, contrary to standards on freedom of expression and privacy.
“SERAP notes the interdependence of human rights, such as the importance of privacy as a gateway to freedom of expression.
“Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the right to hold opinions without interference, and the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers and through any medium.
“The Nigerian Constitution and human rights treaties impose duties on your government to ensure enabling environments for freedom of expression, privacy rights, and other human rights, and to protect their exercise.”
SERAP noted that “While human rights law requires States to prohibit ‘advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence’, States must still satisfy the cumulative conditions of legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimacy in any agreement with social media companies.
“Your government has a legal obligation to promote universal Internet access, media diversity, and independence, as well as ensure that any agreements with Twitter and other social media companies are not used to impermissibly restrict these fundamental human rights.
“By the combined reading of the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria, the Freedom of Information Act 2011, and human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a state party, there are transparency obligations imposed on your government to widely publish the agreement and details of the conditions upon which the suspension of Twitter was lifted.
“It is stated in the statement by the Federal Government that Twitter has reached an agreement with the government ‘to manage prohibited publication in line with Nigerian laws.’ We would be grateful for clarifications on the definition of ‘prohibited information,’ and the specific applicable Nigerian laws in the context of the agreement.
“It is also stated in the statement by the Federal Government that Twitter has agreed to ‘act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built.’ We would be grateful for clarifications on the specific and applicable Nigerian laws, national culture, and history upon which the operation and enforcement of the agreement will be based.
“We would be grateful if the requested information and details are provided to us within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal action in the public interest to compel your government to comply with our request.
“According to our information, the approval was given to lift the suspension of Twitter operation in Nigeria effective from 12 am 13th January 2022 following the memo sent to you by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim. The decision to lift the suspension was reportedly based on the recommendations by the Technical Committee on Nigeria-Twitter Engagement.
“SERAP notes that Alhaji Lai Mohammed on 5th June 2021, announced the suspension of operation of Twitter by the Federal Government, following which a seven-man Presidential Committee was set up to engage Twitter Inc. The Presidential Committee, in turn, established a 20-member Technical Committee, which reportedly directly worked with the Twitter team.”
The letter was copied to Mr Lai Mohammed and Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, Attorney General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Director-General of the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership (NCSP), Mr Joseph Tegbe, is currently visiting China to bolster China-Nigeria relations and foster economic and sustainable development between both countries.
The DG, with the Nigerian delegation, on Monday was at the headquarters of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China where the NDRC Deputy Chairman received them, Mr. Zhao Chenxin, and other top officials, as well as the Nigerian diplomatic community and the Chinese Business Community.
Mr Tegbe is expected to cement strategic agreements in line with President Tinubu’s vision, with China for national growth and in vital sectors of the economy such as agriculture, to boost food security, alternative energy for developing renewable energy sources, healthcare, mining for harnessing Nigeria’s mineral resources to drive economic growth, education to strengthen Nigeria institutions and promote cultural exchange.
Other areas include technology, to foster innovation and advancement, and the support initiative of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The visit of the NCSP ‘s DG underscores the federal government’s commitment to establishing strong bilateral relations and supporting Nigeria’s economic diversification plans, infrastructure development, technology transfer, and job creation to foster mutually beneficial collaboration between the two nations.
Through this initiative, Nigeria can leverage its resources and human capital to develop key industries, bolster infrastructure, and enhance youth capacity through skills acquisition programmes.
On Monday, the DG NCSP and his team visited the CCECC Head Office, had dinner with the CHEC, and will on Tuesday, visit the Governor of the Central Development Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the China Export, Import Bank, as well as the China Development Bank. They also met with Power China Representatives.
They will on Wednesday, visit the Chief Harbour, the CHEC, CNCEC, and the CCECC Chairman, before moving to the CSCS Haishen Medical on Thursday, the CCECC, the China Building Materials, amongst others.
They will on Monday, 20th January, visit the Consulate General/Trade Mission Office, the Yang Shang Deep Sea Port, and Danghai Bridge (Sea).
The team is also expected at Huawei, before going to the CEC/ Long UAV, for a meeting with Diana Chen on Saturday, before returning to Nigeria.
This initiative comes on the heels of President Bola Tinubu’s official visit to China before the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), where he had talks with China’s President Xi Jinping on improved economic cooperation, with the latter pledging 360 Billion Yuan, (about $51 billion), financing to African nations in the next three years, and support for 30 infrastructure projects to boost connectivity across the continent.
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Nigeria to reinforce the growing partnership between China and Africa, especially Nigeria, with discussions on strengthening economic ties, enhancing security cooperation and mutual developmental goals.
As Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, seeks to become a net exporter to China in the next five years, the consolidated partnership is aimed at playing a crucial role in achieving this goal.
The country also remains China’s major partner on the continent for trade and technology investments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, said power generation in the country increased by about 30 per cent in 2024, but missed crucial targets in the review year.
Mr Adelabu made the disclosure during his ministry’s 2025 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Power at the National Assembly complex on Monday.
He said that when he assumed the leadership of the ministry in 2023, he met an average of 4,100 megawatts of power generation.
“I can tell you authoritatively that by the end of 2024, we had a peak generation of 5,528 megawatts of power from 4,100 megawatts that we met on ground and the reason for this is not far-fetched. We added a new hydroelectric power dam, Zungeru, with 700 megawatts.
“There was also a tremendous increase in the generation lines by other existing generation companies,” he said.
The Minister said that the target for power generation was 6,000 megawatts, adding, however, that due to the challenges experienced toward the end of 2024 in terms of grid collapses, the ministry missed the target by a minimal margin.
He further said that apart from energy access expansion, the sector had plans to stabilise the grid and other transmission infrastructure.
“I’m happy to also inform you that out of the eight collapses of the national grid that we experienced during 2024, five were full collapses, while three were partial collapses.
“Out of the five full collapses, three were actually due to generation problems. So, as against the 12 collapse that were publicised, it was just about eight collapses.
“We have been trying very hard to ensure that we manage the grid that was inherited.
“Unfortunately, it is still very old. It is dilapidated. And we are just managing it until we are able to fix it permanently.
“This is the focus of the Presidential Power Initiative, to ensure that the entire grid is revamped so that we won’t be having all this vandalism.
“So these are the summaries of our activities. And we are proud to say that we almost met all our targets for 2024.
“Our hope is that 2025 will be a better year for us, and we will be able to address all the existing issues in the sector,” he said.
By Dipo Olowookere
The governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has refuted claims that he was involved in the removal of Mr Mudashiru Obasa as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Mr Obasa was impeached on Monday after being on the seat since 2015 by 32 of the 40-member state parliament for alleged gross misconduct.
The action was carried out while the Speaker was away in the United States, with Mrs Mojisola Meranda elected as his replacement, becoming the first female to occupy the position.
It happened a few weeks after Mr Obasa said during the presentation of the 2025 budget by Mr Sanwo-Olu that he was qualified to be the governor of the state and even better than those who have occupied the position.
This statement by the former Speaker was seen as an affront on the previous governors of the state, including President Bola Tinubu, who governed Lagos between 1999 and 2007.
It has been speculated that Mr Obasa kept Governor Sanwo-Olu waiting for long during the budget presentation last month. It was claimed that this action infuriated the governor and leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Yesterday, members of the parliament in Lagos said they had had enough of Mr Obasa, moving to remove him from office.
As this happened, there were claims that Mr Sanwo-Olu instigated members of the Lagos State House of Assembly to impeach the former Speaker.
But the governor, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Gboyega Akosile, distanced himself from the impeachment, emphasising that it was purely a decision of the legislative arm of government.
“This is a legislative matter, and the Assembly handled it as they saw fit. The governor has no involvement,” Mr Akosile, who once served as the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) of Mr Sanwo-Olu, said in an interview, noting that his principal does not interfere in the other arms of government.
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