The Federal Government has said it is set to review the Cybercrimes Act to remove its flaws and other lacuna found in it, as well as bring it up to the current realities.
The Head of Cybercrimes Prosecution Unit in the Federal Ministry of Justice Mr. Terlumun George Tyendezwa said the ministry was committed to pursuing the amendment of the act considered as repressive, unconstitutional and illegal.
Tyendezwa addressed reporters yesterday in Lagos at an interactive session called: Constitutionality and Legality of the Cybercrimes Act in Nigeria, organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in collaboration with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the United States of America (U.S.A).
He said the Federal Ministry of Justice would engage all stakeholders to have a modern Cybercrimes Act.
Tyendezwa said: “The Cybercrimes Act is not perfect. One of the reasons I am here is that we want to engage on the Act. We are interested in engaging all stakeholders in the Justice sector.”
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Whatever is not useful, we can seek amendment on this. From the point of passage, we, as the operators, knew that there were things that needed to change. We are presently collating memoranda on amendment of the Act. But an amendment takes time and costs money.
“We know the importance of law as a social driver. The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice continues to place high value on entrenched fundamental human rights and engaging with all stakeholders on the Cybercrimes Act is one of our approaches.” he stated.
A group of lawyers, journalists, activists and other stakeholders unanimously declared the Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act as “repressive, oppressive and unconstitutional”.
They suggested that the Act should immediately be repealed or dropped.
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