By Bashir Mayere; Editing by Basirat Memudu
The senate has expressed commitments in ensuring legislations for good governance in Nigeria.
The President of the Senate, Godswil Akpabio made this known while declaring open a public hearing on two bills in Abuja.
The bills are: Act to Alter the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 to mandate the establishment of Physical Offices within Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and a bill seeking for establishment of Artificial intelligence Academy in Omuo – Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The President of the Senate who was represented by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Lola Ashiru, described the two bills as forward looking and important legislative proposals which reflects Senate’s commitment to improved lawmaking and good governance in the country.
He specifically declared that the bill seeking to mandate Social Media platforms operating within Nigeria to establish physical offices and it is not intended to stifle the platforms in anyway.
In his submission, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Ned Nwoko said this Bill supports innovation, not designed to frustrate investment or discourage technology companies from operating in Nigeria.
According to him, required physical presence by operators of social media platforms are made in other countries of the world that are even smaller in size and population when compared with Nigeria.
He added that around the world, major technology companies have established headquarters, regional offices, engineering centres and operational hubs in countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore, India, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, and Japan.
He said some of these companies even maintain multiple offices within the same country.
“For instance, Meta operates major facilities in Dublin, Cork and Clonee in Ireland, while its United Kingdom operations span King’s Cross and Brock Street in London. Google maintains multiple offices in London, Dublin, Sydney, São Paulo, Munich and Tokyo, with more than one campus in several of those cities.
“These offices perform diverse functions ranging from engineering and artificial intelligence research to legal and regulatory compliance, public policy, advertising, trust and safety, cloud services, sales, customer support and product development”.
Ned Nwoko further explained that these countries did not attract such investments by accident, rather recognised that the digital economy is now as important as the traditional economy.
He argued that it encourages global technology companies to establish local operations, thereby creating employment, expanded tax revenues, strengthened regulatory engagement, promoted innovation and encouraged technology transfer to their citizens.
“Ireland, for example, has become one of Europe’s foremost technology hubs because companies such as Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok and X maintain significant operations there”.
He said these companies employ thousands of professionals, contribute substantially to the Irish economy and work directly with regulators and government institutions.
“The presence of these companies has also helped develop local technology talent, stimulate innovation and attract further foreign investment.”
However, Similar support was also given by Stakeholders to the bill seeking to establish AI Academy in Omuo – Ekiti sponsored by Senator Yemi Adaramodu representing Ekiti South.
