On June 10–11, 2026, it was the turn of civic actors from the North-East and North-West regions of Nigeria to benefit from Spaces for Change’s | S4C’s Digital Security Clinic (DSC) organized every quarter under the auspices of the Civic Space Resource Hub (CSR-Hub) with support from the Ford Foundation. Along this line, thirty-five (35) representatives of civil society and media professionals from Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, and Sokoto States, participated in the two-day intensive digital resilience programme where they gained indepth knowledge on the intersections between civic rights, technology justice and security.
Beginning with S4C’s Closing Spaces Database–a tracking and documentation platform for civic space restrictions across Nigeria and West Africa–participants learnt about flashpoints of digital restrictions and internet freedom closures in Nigeria and across West Africa. This grounding set the stage for an introduction to digital human rights, privacy and data protections under both national and international law. The opening session answered questions such as whether statutes governing technology and internet freedoms fully protect the rights of online users? How do they cause harm to civic actors? What category of civic actors are most at risk? S4C’s 2026 report, Civic Space in West Africa: Trends, Threats and Futures, 2nd edition singled out journalists as the civic actors most-targeted with repression by state and non-state actors.
Dedicated sessions addressed a wide range topics, with deep dives into national, regional and international legal frameworks, including provisions that afford legal protections to civic actors, journalists, and rights defenders operating in Nigeria’s digital space. The sessions on investigative journalism and surveillance technologies in the digital age, particularly equipped journalists and media professionals with practical frameworks for navigating surveillance risks and disinformation pressures.
Participants then explored technology-facilitated gender-based violence, mapping the nature and range of digital harms disproportionately directed at women and marginalized communities and examining how such harms suppress participation in civic and public life. S4C’s research, particularly The Proliferation of Dual-Use Surveillance Technologies in Nigeria: Deployment, Risks, and Accountability and The Security Playbook of Digital Authoritarianism in Nigeria provided the analytical backbone for these discussions, documenting how surveillance technologies and digital regulations are weaponised to shrink civic space in Nigeria.
The foundational lessons paved the ground for the substantive sessions on legal remedies for digital rights and privacy violations, drawing on case laws and decisions from across West Africa to illustrate how affected individuals and organisations have sought and secured accountability. Participants then examined whistleblowing protocols, the practical dos and don’ts of surfacing sensitive information safely, followed by a session on digital safety through a gendered lens, which foregrounded the differentiated vulnerabilities of women and frontline activists. The Clinic then turned to cybersecurity strategies for protecting personal devices, organisational communications, and sensitive data, before moving into applied sessions on digital tools for effective advocacy and data protection strategies, roles, and responsibilities. The programme concluded with a session on social protection and rapid response mechanisms, equipping participants to act quickly and collectively when violations occur, and strategic communications training helping participants sharpen their messaging and communicate with clarity and impact.
Across both days, the Clinic did more than build technical capacity. It shifted how participants related to digital security, not as a specialised concern for technology experts, but as a fundamental dimension of civic work and democratic participation. Protecting communications, data, and digital presence, participants came to see, is continuous with protecting communities, movements, and public voice. That understanding of digital resilience as collective, not individual, gave the programme its coherence and wider reach. For civic actors operating in the North-East and North-West, where security conditions intensify the stakes of this work, the Clinic affirmed that digital safety and social justice are not separate pursuits. They are, in practice, inseparable.
