NITDA Issues 14-day Ultimatum to Government Officials to Obey Established Regulations for Use of Social Media

The Federal Government has issued an ultimatum through the
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), giving government officials 14 days to take appropriate action and ensure they comply with the Framework and Guidelines for the use of Social Media Platforms for Public Institutions that was signed into law on January 25, 2019.

This ultimatum was given as a response to findings that some government officials make use of their personal accounts for official purposes while some other government officials fail to hand over the official social media accounts at the end of their tenure. These acts are in violation of the provision that maintains that every official government social media account is a property of the government.

NITDA, therefore, advises public officials to take appropriate measures at ensuring that they comply with provisions of the regulation within 14 days of this release to avoid being sanctioned.

Mr Isa Pantami

Earlier in January, NITDA had announced that according to section 6 of the NITDA act 2007, restaurants and companies and all other service providers of public internet service are to comply with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation of the NITDA 2019, issued pursuant to Section 6 of the NITDA 2007.

By the framework and guidelines for the use of social media platforms, government officials in every public institution must ensure that all official accounts are opened with the official email and must not publish personal opinion on the official handles while also respecting copyright laws and avoiding harassment among others.