SERAP IN THE NEWS

– Editorial of the Nation Newspaper.

• SERAP’s suit against President, minister over twitter agreement is in good faith

Last week, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) dragged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to a Federal High Court, Lagos, to compel them to disclose the terms of agreement with Twitter. SERAP contends that Nigerians are entitled to know the details of the agreement, so as to determine whether it is in the overall interest of citizens who are protected by the provisions of the 1999 constitution and other extant laws.

The Federal Government suspended twitter on June 5, 2021, for allegedly undermining the country by removing a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari. Although twitter objected to the suspension, a thing many Nigerians also condemned, the suspension was not lifted until January, this year, after about 222 days. The details of the agreement between both parties are however not known to Nigerians.

We identify with the public interest litigation by SERAP, particularly the need to make the agreement with twitter public. The minimum should be that before entering into such agreements, it should be scrutinised by the National Assembly, which must ensure that the public interest is protected.

While the agreement with twitter may not amount to a treaty, which section 12 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)  expressly provided for, it must be borne in mind that most multi-national companies are backed to the hilt by the governments of their home-countries. So, while the agreement with twitter is not affected by the provision of S.12 of the constitution, not being a treaty, it is trite that public oversight is exercised.

So, the agreement with twitter should be in the public domain so that citizens and their representatives know its implications. The same should be applicable to the loan agreements reached with China and other creditor-nations. Our country men and women should not be cut off guard by loan sharks that masquerade as international finance agencies. Indeed, the National Assembly should make it a right to access the details of such agreements, so that the political leadership don’t plunge the country into a debt peonage, with critical national assets as collateral.

As reported in the media, SERAP raised some fundamental questions, which it hopes will be resolved by the courts. It contends that “the operation and enforcement of the agreement may be based on broadly worded restrictive laws, which may be used as pretexts to suppress legitimate discourse.” It argues that: “any agreement with social media companies must meet the constitutional requirements of legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimacy.” Furthermore, it is apprehensive that “secretly agreed terms and conditions will fail these fundamental requirements”.

The above questions raised by SERAP are applicable to other agreements reached and binding on Nigeria, and we call for a review of all of them. We are concerned that those who negotiate these agreements may not have the requisite expertise to protect the interest of the country. Even when they do, they may not be above board as to think Nigeria first. In the agreement with twitter, Nigerians are entitled to know those who negotiated it on behalf of the federation. They are entitled to know whether the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture involved legal experts, and if they did, who guaranteed their competence?

In our view, the suit by SERAP should not be the compelling reason to address the germane issues raised with respect to the twitter agreement. We urge that such procedure should be a standard practice to ensure that at all times, those representing our country in negotiating treaties and international commercial agreements are those with requisite competence. They must also be persons of integrity. The instances where the nation is made to pay huge damages for breach of unfavourably skewed agreements should be a thing of the past.

We hope that the Federal High Court would discharge its duties in the suit filed by SERAP without fear, favour or ill-will. The country’s interest should be paramount at all times.