The Nigeria House of Representatives proudly participated in the Sub-Regional Parliamentary Track of the 2025 West Africa Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF), held in Abuja.
This high-level engagement brought together parliamentarians from ten West African countries to articulate a cohesive regional vision for digital governance, culminating in the adoption of the ‘Parliamentary Declaration on Digital Governance in West Africa.’
The Nigerian delegation, comprising Members of the House Committee on ICT led by Rep. Adedeji Stanley Olajide, made active and impactful contributions to the deliberations. Their engagement reaffirmed the legislature’s commitment to advancing a resilient, inclusive, and rights-based digital future in line with key continental and global digital transformation frameworks; including the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy, the African Digital Compact, the Malabo Convention, the Global Digital Compact, the WSIS+20 review process, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In his remarks, Rep. Adedeji Stanley Olajide, Chairman of the House Committee on ICT, emphasized the House’s proactive approach to digital governance:
“The House of Representatives remains unequivocally committed to legislative leadership in digital transformation. As custodians of the democratic mandate, we recognize the indispensable role of parliament in not only facilitating innovation but in protecting the rights, data, and digital sovereignty of our citizens. Our collaborative engagement within the West African parliamentary network signals our resolve to harmonize efforts for a safer, fairer, and more prosperous digital future.”
The Declaration, which Nigeria fully endorses, outlines twelve key resolutions adopted by participating legislators:
- Capacity Development: Parliamentarians and legislative support staff will undergo structured training in areas such as digital governance, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and data protection. The aim is to enhance institutional understanding and oversight capabilities, while encouraging similar capacity-building across all arms of government.
- Collaborative and Legislative Frameworks: Legislatures will jointly draft and adopt regionally harmonized digital laws and policies that reflect West Africa’s unique socio-political and technological realities, ensuring cross-border cohesion and protection of regional interests.
- Regional Cooperation: Lawmakers commit to aligning national digital governance and data protection laws to facilitate regional integration, promote interoperability, and support secure cross-border digital collaboration.
- Youth Engagement: Parliaments will institutionalize mechanisms to involve young people in digital policy-making processes. This includes promoting digital literacy, entrepreneurship, and youth leadership in innovation and governance.
- Data Sovereignty: Recognizing data as a strategic national resource, parliaments will advocate for legislation that secures local ownership, fair value, and sovereign control of data, while enabling responsible cross-border data exchange.
- Transparency and Accountability: Legislators will advance mechanisms to ensure transparency in digital policymaking and foster accountability through inclusive stakeholder engagement, including civil society, academia, youth, and the private sector.
- Ethical AI Development: Lawmakers affirm the need for regulatory frameworks that promote the ethical and inclusive design, deployment, and governance of AI and emerging technologies, guarding against algorithmic bias and misuse.
- Cross-Border Innovation: Legislative frameworks will be designed to promote innovation ecosystems across the ECOWAS region by reducing legal and regulatory fragmentation and enabling a vibrant digital single market.
- Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation: Legislators will continue their engagement through the West Africa Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (WAPNIG), working in tandem with stakeholders to build legislative competencies and sustain multistakeholder dialogue.
- Stronger Voices in Global Digital Governance: Parliamentarians commit to shaping and representing regional perspectives in global digital governance forums through a whole-of-society approach that reflects Africa’s development priorities and digital realities.
- Budget Allocations: Members of parliament will advocate for dedicated and sustainable budgetary allocations that support ongoing participation in digital governance, including regional and global forums, legislative training, and cooperative platforms.
- Leveraging Institutional Memory: Legislators will institutionalize channels to tap into the expertise and contributions of former parliamentarians and experienced stakeholders to sustain knowledge continuity beyond parliamentary terms.
The House of Representatives commends the collaborative spirit demonstrated at the Forum and underscores the importance of regional solidarity in ensuring that Africa’s digital transformation is inclusive, secure, and grounded in democratic values.
The House further calls upon the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) platforms, ECOWAS institutions, development partners, the private sector, civil society, youth groups, and the technical community to deepen their support for parliamentary initiatives in digital governance.
