In the spirit of 16 Days of Activism 2025, it is important to look closely at how violence shows up in women’s lives, both offline and online. This year’s campaign raises a hard question: what does the digital world really feel like for women in Nigeria?
For many women, the internet is both a lifeline and a risk. It is a place to build businesses, share ideas, learn, and organise. At the same time, it exposes them to threats, humiliation, and attacks that can follow them everywhere, including back into their homes.
Over the past few years, what many once brushed off as social media “wahala” has become a serious safety concern. Women are dealing with anonymous threats, cyberstalking, deepfakes, fake accounts created to shame them, and posts designed to destroy their reputation. Non-consensual sharing of intimate images is now sadly common. A lot of victims end up feeling isolated, embarrassed, and unsure where to seek help.
Part of the problem is that digital violence does not always look like “real” violence in the way society is used to seeing it. There are no bruises, no torn clothes, no blood. Yet the fear is real. The shame is real. The loss of opportunities is real. A woman can lose her job, her mental health, and her sense of safety because someone decided to use technology as a weapon.
For a long time, Nigerian law was better at chasing online banking fraud than protecting women from these kinds of attacks. This is why the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 matters. It arrives at a time when Nigeria’s response to online harm clearly needs improvement. The amendment does not fix everything, but it does offer a clearer legal path in some areas and sends a signal that online abuse is not “just drama”.
What the 2024 Amendment Actually Changes
With the signing of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act 2024, Nigeria adjusted its main cybercrime law to respond to new threats and to comply with a key ECOWAS Court decision that criticised the old section 24 on cyberstalking. The changes are not a full digital violence law, but they touch on issues that affect women in important ways.
1. Cyberstalking and harmful online content
The 2024 Amendment rewrites section 24, which deals with cyberstalking. The new version focuses on messages that are:
- pornographic, or
- false,
and are sent with the intention of causing a breakdown of law and order or threatening someone’s life.
This can apply in cases where women receive threats or are targeted with harmful sexual content that clearly puts their safety at risk. In that sense, the law can be used to challenge some forms of digital violence.
However, it still does not give a clear, stand-alone offence for:
- image-based abuse (such as the sharing of intimate images without consent),
- deepfake sexual content, or
- everyday patterns of harassment that may not reach the high bar of “threat to life” or “breakdown of law and order”.
So while section 24 is now cleaner than before, it still leaves many forms of gendered online abuse in a grey area.
2. Identity theft and misuse of personal data
The amendment also touches on identity theft and impersonation. Previously, some offences in the Act focused mainly on staff of financial institutions. The new law extends liability to staff of any public or private organisation who misuse people’s data.
For women, this matters because:
- staff in banks, schools, hospitals, telecoms, and other workplaces often have access to photos, contact details, and identity documents
- when this data is misused, it can be used to set up fake profiles, leak private information, or blackmail women.
The change does not mean that this is the first time impersonation is a crime. Rather, it widens who can be held responsible when insiders abuse their access to sensitive information.
3. Data duties and support for investigations
The Cybercrimes Act has always placed certain duties on service providers. The 2024 Amendment strengthens and updates some of these duties. It ties data handling more clearly to the Nigerian Data Protection Act and shortens timelines for reporting cyber incidents to the relevant cyber response teams.
In simple terms, this should make it easier to:
- preserve digital evidence, and
- trace offenders when women report online abuse.
Of course, how this works in real life will depend on whether agencies have the capacity and the will to follow through.
4. Beyond the banking sector
The Cybercrimes Act has always applied to “any person”, not just banks. What the amendment does is extend some provisions that were written with financial institutions in mind so that they now cover staff of any public or private body.
This is important because:
- banks are not the only ones who hold sensitive data, and
- abuse of power in workplaces can also fuel digital violence against women.
So the 2024 Amendment shifts the focus from only financial institutions to a wider group of actors who can be held accountable when they misuse digital systems or data.
What the Amendment Does Not Do
It is important to be honest about the limits of the 2024 Amendment.
- It is not a dedicated law on digital violence against women and girls.
- It does not clearly define image-based sexual abuse, deepfake pornography, or coordinated harassment as specific offences.
- It does not set out survivor-centred procedures, such as safe reporting channels, protection of complainants’ identities, or special support measures for victims of online sexual abuse.
Because of these gaps, survivors still have to piece together their protection from different sources:
- general cybercrime provisions,
- constitutional rights such as the right to dignity and privacy,
- state-level laws like the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act where it applies, and
- data protection rules.
For many women, simply knowing that the law now recognises some of what they face online can bring a measure of relief. It shows that their experience is not trivial. But legal reform on its own is not enough. Public attitudes and institutional practice must also change.
Shifting Public Attitudes
One of the biggest barriers to justice for victims of digital violence is how society reacts.
Too many people still believe that online harassment is something women should ignore, “block and move on”, or treat as a joke. Some women do not report because they think nothing will come out of it. Others remain silent because they fear being blamed for “sharing too much” or “trusting the wrong person”.
This silence helps abusers. It tells them they can do it again.
We need a culture where people understand that digital violence is real violence. Schools, media houses, tech communities, religious and community leaders, civil society groups, workplaces, and families all have a role to play.
Young people, especially, need early education about:
- digital consent,
- how to protect their accounts and devices,
- how to support friends who experience online abuse, and
- how not to become abusers themselves.
A Call to Action
As we mark this year’s 16 Days of Activism, public statements alone are not enough. The 2024 Cybercrimes Amendment Act sets part of the legal ground. The rest is up to all of us.
To the Women
- Read the Act and basic explainer guides where they are available.
- Know that some forms of online abuse are crimes.
- Do not delete the evidence. Save screenshots, links, emails, and messages.
- Report to police cybercrime units or other relevant agencies, and reach out to trusted organisations that can support you.
To the Legal Community
- Take on more pro bono cases for victims of digital violence, especially women who cannot afford legal fees.
- Learn the details and limits of the Cybercrimes Act, the Amendment, the Data Protection Act, and relevant state laws, so that advice to clients is honest and clear.
- Use strategic cases to push for better interpretation of existing provisions and advocate for new, dedicated laws on digital violence.
To the Nigerian Public
- Stop treating online abuse as gossip or entertainment.
- When you see non-consensual images, threats, or obvious harassment, do not share them or laugh along.
- Report harmful content on platforms and, where possible, to the relevant authorities.
- Call out friends and colleagues who mock or blame victims. Silence and jokes send a message that abusers can carry on without consequences.
Conclusion
The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 will not wipe out misogyny from the Nigerian internet. It will not, on its own, protect every woman from digital harm. But it marks a small shift away from the days when online abuse was brushed aside as mere “social media drama”.
Real progress starts with treating women’s digital safety as serious, not optional. The law has taken a step. Now institutions, communities, and individuals must do the work of turning legal text into real protection.
References
- Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024. Federal Republic of Nigeria.
- United Nations Women. (2021). Online and ICT-facilitated violence against women and girls: A global overview. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en
- Digital Rights and Inclusion Policy Reports, Nigeria. (2023). Digital harassment and online abuse against women. Centre for Digital Rights and Policy.
- Amnesty International. (2020). Toxic Twitter: Online abuse against women in Nigeria. Amnesty International Reports. https://www.amnesty.org
- United Nations Human Rights Office. (2021). Cyber violence against women and girls: Policy brief. OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org
About the Author:
Rindahrimam Yirom is a Lawyer and the Legal and Compliance Officer at Lex Initiative, where she focuses on protecting and empowering women and vulnerable communities. Her work is driven by a commitment to digital rights, safe technology, and using the law as a tool to advance equality and justice.