Your Right To Privacy In Nigeria

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Today let's talk about our right to privacy.  As the Constitution puts it; 
"The privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected."

In my opinion, this right is one of the most important rights in human existence because it goes a long way to guarantee our independence and liberty as individuals. From the wordings of the Constitution, it clearly forbids spying and intrusions of any kind (or what we fondly call "busy body") by the government or security agencies or your employer or your educational institution or your bank or by anyone else at all. Your life, your home, your properties and your communications are all protected and the law is basically saying that everyone should just mind their own business.

However, they are exceptions to this right. In other words they are instances when your privacy can be lawfully interfered with and these are:
1) in the interest of defending the nation and its citizens,
2) in the interest of public morality,
3) for the purpose of public safety,
4) for the purpose of public order,
5) in the interest of public health, and
6) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

This is why the police and other government agencies can search you and/or your property, or someone can report you and your business to the police or other relevant authority for investigation, or why security checks and restrictions are implemented at various places like airports and banks, or why your bank accounts can be frozen and investigated, or why NAFDAC can inspect your food or drug related business venture, or why the appropriate health authorities can quarantine your home or place of business, or why sanitary officers can inspect your home or place of business etc.

However they are limits and conditions which all the above institutions must strictly adhere to before they can intrude into your private affairs. Let me also add that this issue of privacy is now a global challenge especially due to the ever increasing importance of the internet and the also increasing rate of online hacking as well as online spying by both big corporations, the government and hackers. People are losing both money and reputation at alarming rates due to these nefarious activities.

The summary of our gist today is this; you have the right to privacy but your privacy is subject to some exceptions allowed by law, however be quick to consult your lawyer for proper guidance whenever you think your privacy is under threat.

Cheers!
#KYR




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Right Of Self Defence In Nigeria: The Do's And The Don'ts

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Image
Today I've decided to talk about a very tricky topic namely: the right to self defence. Before I go further let me just drop this disclaimer that this post does not in anyway support or promote violence. And now to our discussion. First of all self-defence as the name implies, is any act done to protect one's self or property from an unlawful attack or violence. The Constitution passively mentions this right when it talked about the right to life and it makes a lot of sense because there are certain urgent situations where it is not feasible to get the timely help of any of the various security agents when faced with imminent danger. However, this right must be exercised with great caution. Let's now proceed to the elements of a valid self defence. Based on several judicial authorities, a valid act of self defence should involve a process of reasoning. This implies that whatever you're doing in self defence must be reasonable/rational. Therefore unreasonable ac...
Read more

Negligence & Human Rights

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Image
Negligence is a very important issue that cuts across so many aspects of our daily lives & seriously affects our rights. But interestingly, although this area of law is rampant yet it is often overlooked. Negligence in law can simply be defined as the omission to do something which a reasonable person (under similar circumstances) would do, or the doing of something which a reasonable person would not do. To establish negligence in law you must show that: 1) someone owed you a 'duty of care', 2) that person breached that duty of care, 3) and you suffered damages or losses as a result of that breach. 1) A duty of care is simply the duty we all owe each other to be careful so that our actions do not injure or harm another person. It does not matter if you know the person or the person is far away from you. Whenever your conduct can potentially injure another person or persons, then you owe that person or persons a duty of care, i.e. a duty to be careful. 2)...
Read more

The Right To Define Your Business Relationships

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Image
Today we are going to talk about the economic right of persons to define their business relationships. Our focus today is on all business/commercial transactions that involve exchange of value (whether goods or services) for a consideration which could be money or any other economic gain. Please note that in the course of this discussion, whenever I mention business/commerce I am also referring to employments, contracts, trades & investments of every kind. The law gives people liberty to determine the terms & conditions of their business relationships/agreements but such terms & conditions must be within the limits permitted by law. This economic right is very crucial because everyone is involved in one commercial activity or the other, & every person would definitely appreciate the opportunity to have a say with regards to the terms & conditions that regulate his/her business activities.  The best way to protect & enforce this right is to get help ...
Read more

Debt Recovery & Human Rights

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Image
Another prevalent issue in our society is that of debt recovery. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of challenges in this area which often  result in human rights issues. Therefore it's important to be well guided to avoid suffering or unknowingly inflicting human right violations because ignorance is no justification in the eyes of the law. In the context of our discussion today, a loan is simply money given by one person (called the creditor) to another person (called the debtor) for temporary use, to be repaid with or without interest. Usually, there are 2 kinds of creditors/lenders, namely: 1) commercial money lenders who are registered under the money lenders Act & carry on money lending activities as their official business. Examples are banks & some co-operative societies. 2) Private creditors who are just ordinary people or organisations that lend money based on personal or other reasons & not as a regular commercial activity. Both classes of creditors ar...
Read more

Freedom Of Religion In Nigeria

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
Image
Today let's talk about religious rights. Religion is always a delicate and acrimonious issue in Nigeria which is even the more reason why we all need to know what the law says about religion so that we can learn to respect our different religious beliefs. So without much ado we will be discussing this fundamental right in 4 major points: 1) Every Nigerian has the freedom to BELONG, to CHANGE, to PRACTICE and to PROPAGATE or PREACH his/her religion. Under the law you are free to do any or all of the above both privately and publicly, and either alone or together with other persons. However, this freedom does not exonerate you if you use it unlawfully for instance where you become a nuisance to other people or become a trespasser or where you resort to violence. This is in line with the hallowed principle of law which stipulates that your rights end where another person's own begins. 2) No educational institution can compel its students to undergo any religious study...
Read more