An Analytical Study of the Right to Privacy and Its Limitations in Nigerian Constitutional and Statutory Law

The right to privacy in Nigeria is constitutionally protected under section 37 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, yet the boundary between legitimate state surveillance, commercial data collection, and the constitutional right to privacy has not been comprehensively examined in recent legal scholarship. This study analytically examines the right to privacy under the Constitution, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, the Cybercrimes Act 2015, and security legislation including the Terrorism Prevention Act, focusing on the standards and safeguards applicable when privacy is limited by state action or commercial data practices. A doctrinal analysis of the constitutional provision, relevant legislation, and approximately 20 decided cases from 2015 to 2023 was combined with comparative analysis of privacy jurisprudence in South Africa and India. Results indicate that section 37 protects privacy in a home and correspondence context but its extension to digital communications, location data, and financial records has been inconsistently addressed by courts. Security legislation provides insufficient judicial oversight mechanisms for surveillance authorisation. The Cybercrimes Act contains provisions potentially incompatible with constitutional privacy protections. The study fills an analytical gap in Nigerian privacy law scholarship and concludes that a standalone Privacy Protection Act incorporating proportionality tests for privacy limitations, judicial authorisation for surveillance, and remedies for privacy violations is required. Recommendations align with the UN Human Rights Council's privacy standards and Johannesburg Principles on national security.

Keywords: right to privacy, constitutional law, data protection, surveillance, Nigeria