Victims of digital rights violations in Nigeria are being left without timely remedies as agencies struggle to determine who should take responsibility for cases that cut across data protection, cybercrime, consumer protection and human rights, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and AccountabilityLab Nigeria have said.

The organisations raised the concern in Abuja on Wednesday at a multi-stakeholder convening on building a coordinated response system for digital rights violations.

The Programme and Learning Manager at AccountabilityLab Nigeria, Ehi Idakwo, said the challenge was no longer the absence of laws or institutions, but the lack of a system that tells victims who to contact first, which institution takes ownership of a case and how quickly a response should follow.

Idakwo illustrated the problem with a loan-app borrower whose missed payment leads to messages being sent to her entire contact list, including family members and co-workers.

She asked whether such a case should be treated as a data-protection violation, a consumer-protection matter, harassment or all three, stressing that the uncertainty could leave the victim moving from one institution to another without a clear resolution pathway.

She cited another case involving a young woman whose private photographs were allegedly circulated without her consent by an ex-partner, saying such a victim could simultaneously require platform intervention, law-enforcement action and psychosocial support.

According to her, a student arrested after criticising a governor online could equally require intervention from the NHRC, a lawyer, the police and the media, yet organisations responding to the case may not know which institution should take the lead.

She also described the case of a journalist facing sustained anonymous threats after her home address was published online and an account allegedly created in her name.

Idakwo said the cases demonstrated the need for a system in which every complaint has a clearly designated owner, a defined referral pathway and a timeline for feedback to victims.

Idakwo said the urgency had increased ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle, when digital platforms are expected to play an even greater role in political communication and civic participation.

She warned that journalists, activists and ordinary citizens could face harassment, disinformation, account takeovers and other forms of digital abuse, making an effective response system essential.

She said the initiative would seek to establish designated focal persons within participating organisations, secure communication channels for rapid response, common documentation standards and an action plan to sustain coordination beyond the meeting.

According to her, achieving this would require trust and compromise among institutions that traditionally operate within separate mandates.

“It requires civil society to work with the government. It requires the government to also work with civil society,” she said, stressing that the interests of victims should remain at the centre of the system.

Earlier, in his welcome remark, the Country Director of AccountabilityLab Nigeria, Odeh Friday, said the organisation had encountered numerous complaints involving digital rights violations, identity theft and misinformation through its grassroots engagements.

He said the partnership with the NHRC was intended to create a bridge between citizens, civil society and government institutions responsible for addressing such complaints.

Friday listed the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Ministry of Justice, police and the Nigeria Police Force’s cybercrime structures among institutions that could play different roles in resolving digital rights complaints.

He said the objective was to establish a system through which a complaint could be presented to relevant agencies with clarity on the institution responsible for resolving it.

“We need to establish and address the coordination between agencies and civil society,” he said.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu, SAN, said Nigeria’s digital landscape had become central to civic engagement, investigative journalism, democratic dialogue and the exercise of constitutional freedoms.

Ojukwu said the present response to digital rights violations remained fragmented, with ambiguous referral pathways, inadequate procedures for preserving digital evidence and delays in high-stakes cases.

He said the Constitution protects the dignity of the human person, privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association, adding that such protections apply online as well as offline.

Ojukwu said the NHRC was prepared to serve as an anchor for a collaborative response architecture but stressed that effective protection required cooperation among law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, regulators, civil society, technology platforms and telecommunications companies.

He also urged that enforcement of cybercrime and other online-harm laws must remain consistent with constitutional safeguards, due process and international human rights obligations.