The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has said that over 86 million Nigerians have no access to digital rights, including a large percentage of women and girls in rural and urban areas, who cannot afford digital goods and services or devices because they are digitally illiterate.
Speaking Tuesday in Abuja, during a three-day capacity building workshop on digital rights organized by CITAD for staff of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Executive Director, CITAD, Engr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, said that many Nigerians are prevented from available digital infrastructure because of harmful contents and lack of protection of their privacy, “which is at the centre of the discourse on digital rights.”
He said: “Digital rights are not just mere projection of our human rights offline. They are also the means and tools with which we can access our fundament human rights. Governance and government processes have migrated online. As citizens, we are entitled to access and benefit from the services that our governments offer to citizens. Without the internet, we cannot access these service and thus would be excluded from the benefits of our citizenship
“Digital rights is available and can only be available to people who have access to the internet and know how to use it. As there are millions of Nigerians who either do not have access to the internet or are not digitally literate, it means that there are millions of who have no access to digital rights in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, millions are left behind. Our challenge is how to speed them up so that they can catch up with the others and be in a position to access and enjoy their digital rights. This is the focus of the component of the e-Rights Project that CITAD will be dealing with. In other words, we would be working with people who are digitally disadvantaged to make them not only appreciate their digital rights but also access and use them.”
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Chief Anthony Ojukwu, who was represented by the Director, Human Rights Institute, NHRC, Obinna Nwakonye, said the commission has effectively adopted digital technology for receiving, processing and management of complaints and relevant communication, hence the workshop.
