A Bill for an Act to Make Provisions for the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and for related matters 2019 passed second reading in the Senate. This followed the presentation of the lead debate on the bill by the sponsor Musa Sani at plenary.
Leading the debate, Sani said that the bill was a 36-clause legislative proposal to provide for the prevention of broadcast of falsehood and manipulative contents using the internet and its intermediaries for transmission.
He added that the bill also provided for issuance of regulations dealing with transmission of false statements of facts in Nigeria upon declaration.
While supporting the bill, Ibrahim Gobir said that there was need to regulate the internet and punish offenders.
Opposing the bill, Chimaroke Nnamani said that in principle, he condemned it in its entirety.
In his remarks, Senate President Ahmad Lawan referred the bill to the Senate Committee in Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for further legislative action and report back in four weeks.
