Series Article No. 1 — Human Rights, Technology & Digital Governance
Author: Ebuka Williams Obidinma Esq., ACIArb
Partner, Synergy Legal Partners
“This article is the first in a series exploring the intersection of human rights, technology, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, cybersecurity, and digital governance in Nigeria and beyond.”
1.0. Introduction:
For generations, discussions about human rights have largely centred on the physical world. We have understood human rights as protections that shield individuals from oppression, discrimination, arbitrary interference, and abuses of power. These rights have traditionally been associated with our homes, workplaces, schools, communities, and interactions with the state.
Today, however, an increasing portion of human life exists in digital spaces. We communicate through social media platforms, conduct business online, store personal information in digital databases, access education through technological tools, consume information through online channels, and increasingly rely on technology to perform tasks that were once performed exclusively by humans. In many respects, technology has become inseparable from modern existence.
My interest in this field stems not from innovation for its own sake, but from its growing influence on the rights, freedoms, opportunities, and dignity of individuals. As emerging technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday life, it has become clear that many of the most pressing legal and societal questions of our time are, at their core, human rights questions.
The reality is that human rights do not end where technology begins. Rather, technology has become one of the most significant environments in which human rights are exercised, challenged, protected, and redefined. As society continues its rapid digital transformation, understanding the relationship between human rights and technology has become not only relevant but essential.
2.0. Human Rights Beyond Physical Spaces
Human rights are rights and freedoms that belong to every individual by virtue of being human. They are founded on the principles of dignity, equality, liberty, justice, and respect for the inherent worth of every person.
These principles find expression in some of the world’s most important legal instruments. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Similar protections are reflected in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and numerous domestic constitutions across the world.
In Nigeria, these rights are constitutionally guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Among them are the right to dignity of the human person, the right to personal liberty, the right to private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression, freedom from discrimination among others.
Importantly, human rights are not static concepts. While their underlying values remain constant, the environments in which they are exercised continue to evolve. Just as industrialisation created new conversations about labour rights and workplace protections, the digital age has introduced new questions concerning privacy, surveillance, data ownership, cybersecurity, algorithmic decision-making, and artificial intelligence.
Recognising this reality, the United Nations Human Rights Council affirmed in its landmark 2012 Resolution on the Promotion, Protection and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet that the same rights people enjoy offline must also be protected online. This principle remains one of the most important foundations of contemporary digital rights discourse.
The digital world is not separate from society. It is an extension of it. Consequently, the rights that protect individuals in physical spaces must continue to protect them in digital environments.
2.1. Technology as an Extension of Human Life
Technology is often described as a tool. While this remains true, it no longer adequately captures its role in modern society.
Today, technology influences how we communicate, learn, work, create, trade, govern, and participate in civic life. Mobile phones have become financial platforms. Social media has become a marketplace of ideas. Artificial intelligence increasingly assists with decision-making processes. Digital platforms provide opportunities for entrepreneurship, education, healthcare, and civic participation.
For millions of people, meaningful participation in contemporary society increasingly depends on digital connectivity.
This reality has led many scholars and institutions to argue that access to the internet should be viewed not merely as a convenience but as an important enabler of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, access to information, education, and economic participation.
At the same time, rights do not exist in isolation. Every right carries corresponding responsibilities. The exercise of digital freedoms, like freedoms in the physical world, must occur within legal and ethical boundaries that respect the rights of others and promote the collective good.
Technology therefore presents both opportunities and obligations.
2.2. The Human Rights Dimension of Technology
2.2.1 Privacy and Personal Autonomy
Perhaps the most obvious intersection between technology and human rights is the right to privacy.
Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations, and telegraphic communications. Yet in an era characterised by data collection, online tracking, biometric systems, and algorithmic profiling, the meaning of privacy has expanded significantly.
Every day, individuals generate enormous volumes of personal data through their online activities. Questions concerning who collects this data, how it is processed, who owns it, and how it is protected are no longer merely technical concerns. They are questions about autonomy, dignity, and individual freedom.
Nigeria’s enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 reflects growing recognition of the need to protect individuals in an increasingly data-driven society.
2.2.2. Freedom of Expression and Digital Participation
Technology has dramatically expanded opportunities for communication and expression. Digital platforms have enabled individuals to share ideas, challenge authority, organise communities, and participate in public discourse on an unprecedented scale.
At the same time, these platforms have amplified concerns relating to misinformation, disinformation, online harassment, hate speech, and content moderation.
The challenge for modern societies is not simply protecting freedom of expression but balancing that freedom with legitimate concerns about harm, accountability, and public interest.
As public discourse increasingly migrates online, debates about digital expression have become debates about human rights.
2.2.3. Equality, Fairness and Algorithmic Decision-Making
Artificial intelligence systems are increasingly being deployed in sectors such as recruitment, healthcare, banking, insurance, education, and public administration.
While these systems may improve efficiency, they also raise concerns about bias, transparency, and fairness. An algorithm that systematically disadvantages certain groups may perpetuate inequality even where discrimination was never intended. In Nigeria, this concern is not merely theoretical. As financial institutions and fintech companies increasingly deploy credit-scoring algorithms to determine loan eligibility, there is a growing risk that such systems, trained on historical data reflecting existing inequalities may disproportionately disadvantage rural populations, women, and low-income earners. Where access to credit shapes economic opportunity, a biased algorithm is not merely a technical flaw. It is a fairness problem with real human consequences.
The question therefore extends beyond technological capability. It concerns whether technological systems respect the principles of equality and non-discrimination that underpin modern human rights frameworks.
2.2.4. Cybersecurity and Human Dignity
Cybersecurity is often discussed as a technical issue, but its implications are profoundly human.
Cyberattacks, digital fraud, identity theft, data breaches, and ransomware attacks can inflict serious financial, psychological, and reputational harm. Nigeria has not been immune to these threats. In 2023, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported that the Nigerian banking sector lost approximately ₦9.5 billion to electronic fraud, representing a dramatic increase from ₦3 billion recorded in 2019. Beyond the financial losses, victims of digital fraud and identity theft often face prolonged psychological distress, damaged credit histories, and reputational harm that can take years to repair, consequences that strike at the very core of human dignity.
As individuals increasingly entrust their lives to digital systems, cybersecurity becomes more than a matter of technological resilience. It becomes a means of safeguarding human dignity, security, and trust in digital society.
3.0. Emerging Technologies and New Human Rights Questions
The rapid development of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies has intensified debates about the future of rights protection.
AI systems can now generate text, images, music, software code, and creative works that increasingly resemble human output. Facial recognition technologies can identify individuals in real time. Predictive systems can influence decisions relating to employment, finance, law enforcement, and public services.
These developments offer enormous opportunities. They also raise fundamental questions:
i. Who owns AI-generated content?
ii. Who bears legal responsibility when AI systems cause harm?
iii. How should societies respond to misinformation generated at unprecedented speed and scale?
iv. How can innovation be encouraged without compromising accountability?
These questions sit at the intersection of law, ethics, governance, and human rights.
4.0. Human Creativity, Intellectual Property and the Future of Innovation
One area where these questions are becoming increasingly prominent is intellectual property.
For centuries, intellectual property law has sought to protect and reward human creativity. Copyrights, patents, trademarks, and related rights exist not merely to protect economic interests but also to encourage innovation and recognise human ingenuity.
The emergence of generative artificial intelligence challenges many of the assumptions upon which traditional intellectual property frameworks were built.
If an AI system produces a literary work, creates a painting, composes music, or contributes to an invention, who should own the resulting output? Can machines be recognised as authors or inventors? If not, who should bear responsibility for infringement or misuse?
These questions will likely become some of the defining legal debates of the coming decades.
The challenge for policymakers is to ensure that technological innovation continues to flourish while preserving the value and protection afforded to human creativity.
4.0.1. A Human-Centred Approach to Innovation
Discussions about technology often become polarised between uncritical optimism and excessive fear. Neither extreme is desirable.
Innovation has historically improved lives, expanded opportunities, and driven social and economic progress. At the same time, technological advancement should not be viewed as inherently beneficial or beyond scrutiny.
The challenge is not whether technology should evolve, it undoubtedly will. The challenge is ensuring that innovation develops within a framework that respects human dignity, protects fundamental freedoms, and promotes accountability.
Governments should establish foundational safeguards capable of protecting rights while remaining flexible enough to adapt to technological developments. In making regulations, the goal should not be to slow technology down. Rather, the goal is to protect innovations and make sure it does not run over people on its way forward.
Hence, human rights must remain the compass by which technological progress is guided.
4.0.2. The Neighbour Principle in the Digital Age
One of the enduring principles of law is that individuals owe duties to those who may reasonably be affected by their actions. In the erudite words of Helen Moronkeji Ogunwumiju, JSC, “… duty of care is a legal obligation that is imposed on an individual, or organisation, requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could possibly harm others. Thus, duty of care is the legal and moral obligation to safeguard others from harm while they are in your care, using your services or exposed to your activities.” NEPA v. AUWAL (2022) LPELR-59473(SC) (Pp 37 – 38 Paras F – A). This principle remains relevant in the digital age.
Technology companies, governments, developers, content creators, and users must increasingly consider the foreseeable consequences of their actions. In an interconnected digital ecosystem, harmful conduct can spread across borders within seconds and affect millions of people.
The exercise of digital freedoms therefore carries corresponding responsibilities.
As technology becomes more powerful, the obligation to act responsibly becomes more important. Rights and responsibilities must continue to coexist, both offline and online.
4.0.3. The Nigerian Perspective
Nigeria stands at a pivotal moment in its technological development.
The country’s growing digital economy, expanding technology ecosystem, increasing internet penetration, and emerging interest in artificial intelligence present unprecedented opportunities for innovation and growth.
At the same time, these developments raise important questions concerning data protection, digital privacy, misinformation, cybersecurity, ownership rights, intellectual property, and legal accountability.
As Nigeria embraces technological advancement, policymakers, regulators, businesses, legal practitioners, technologists, and citizens must ensure that innovation remains anchored in constitutional values and respect for human rights.
Technological progress should not come at the expense of human dignity. Rather, it should serve as a vehicle for enhancing it.
5.0. Conclusion
The story of human rights has always been a story of adaptation. While the principles of dignity, liberty, equality, and justice remain constant, the environments in which those principles must be protected continue to evolve.
Today, technology is reshaping how we live, work, communicate, create, and participate in society. It is influencing economic opportunities, civic engagement, access to information, personal security, and creative expression in ways that previous generations could scarcely have imagined.
Human rights did not become less important because society became digital. If anything, they have become more important.
The future will undoubtedly be shaped by technology. The more important question is whether that future will be shaped in a manner that respects, protects, and advances the rights and freedoms of the people it is intended to serve.
For those interested in the future of law, governance, innovation, and society, this is not merely a technological conversation. It is, fundamentally, a human rights conversation.
What follows is a journey through the intersections, between human rights and artificial intelligence, between dignity and data, between freedom and cybersecurity, between creativity and intellectual property. In each article, human rights will remain the compass. I invite you to walk this path with me, because understanding where technology and humanity meet is no longer optional. It is essential.
References:
‘Nigeria’s Banking Sector Loses ₦9.5 Billion to Electronic Fraud’ (BusinessDay, 2023) https://businessday.ng/business-economy/article/nigerias-banking-sector-loses-₦9-5-billion-to-electronic-fraud/ accessed [31 May, 2026].
‘Algorithmic Bias and Financial Exclusion in Nigeria’s Fintech Credit Scoring Systems’ (ResearchGate, 2026) accessed [31 May, 2026].
‘Double discrimination: Algorithmic amplification of gender bias in African fintech credit scoring—a 10-algorithm audit reveals 37% underfunding penalty against women-led SMEs’ (Advanced Research Journal, 2025) accessed [31 May, 2026].
‘Algorithm Bias in Credit Markets and Socio-Economic Inequality – A Survey of The Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria’ (IIARD, 2026) accessed [31 May, 2026].
‘A study of AI-based credit scoring tools in rural Nigeria‘ (WJARR, 2025) accessed [31 May, 2026].
