Addressing Cyber-Harassment as an Electronic Crime against Persons in Nigeria: From Theory to Practice

Abstract

Harassment generally is the act of bothering or annoying someone in a constant or repeated way. This unkind and hostile pattern of behaviour has unfortunately found its way into cyberspace. While physical harassment may be easy to cope with by avoiding the cause or agent of the harassment or reporting to physical law enforcement agencies, cyber harassment has not been easy to deal with the same way. The possibility of anonymity in cyberspace and the availability of anonymizers have made the concept of cyber-harassment more difficult to handle. While the advanced nations have made moves to curb this, Nigeria and many African nations have not responded with the same zeal with which the technological advanced nations have confronted the menace even though a pocket of legislations have been enacted to curb the ill. Yet, the impact on the victims in this side of the globe is as damaging as it is in the advanced countries. This paper attempts to appraise the legislative framework addressing cyber-harassment in Nigeria with a view to making suggestions for improvement in the light of the practice in other jurisdictions. The paper concludes that beyond legislation, real practical steps should be taken to ensure that the menace does not take root in Nigeria.