The Proliferation of Dual-Use Surveillance Technologies in Nigeria: Deployment, Risks, and Accountability is follow-up research to a previous study, Security Playbook of Digital Authoritarianism in Nigeria which examined how surveillance technologies, regulations, and other digitalized tools violate privacy rights, censor online expression, and constrict the online civic space in Nigeria.
The focus of this follow-up report is accountability for the misuse of surveillance technologies in Nigeria. It proceeds upon the premise that the proliferation of surveillance technologies has surged because of the increasing democratization of access to new technologies across the globe and their dual use nature for constructive and destructive purposes.
Proliferation is aggravated by weak regulations and importation controls in developing countries like Nigeria. If regulation and import controls are inadequate, to what extent can civil society watchdogs then rely on the export controls of supplier countries to demand accountability when surveillance technologies are used to violate human rights and shrink the civic space?
