The Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has told the National Assembly NASS to take steps to uphold press freedom by repealing obnoxious sections of the Cybercrime Act, 2015.
SERAP said that Sections 24 and 25 of the Act violated all international and regional treaties on human rights to which Nigeria is a party as well as the provisions of Sections 1 and 39 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.
The rights group made the call today while presenting a 76-pages report on press freedom.
Presenting the report, a veteran journalist, Richard Akinnola, said that Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution as amended gave the mass media the obligation to hold government at all levels accountable.
Akinnola added that Section 39 of the same constitution granted the freedom of expression to all Nigerians, noting that this was however, being hindered by obnoxious laws by government. He said that in the past 15 years, press freedom in Nigeria had been on a downward spiral as journalists and media houses had been facing severe attacks by both the federal, State Governments and public office.
