Terms & Privacy

1. About NaijaWatch

NaijaWatch provides a simple and accessible way for people to report governance and community concerns, document issues affecting public services and infrastructure, contribute relevant information, and support greater transparency and accountability.

NaijaWatch may use artificial intelligence and other automated technologies to assist with organising information, identifying patterns, categorising reports, supporting analysis, and improving the platform. NaijaWatch is operated by the Open Knowledge Development Initiative (OKDI), a youth-led nonprofit organisation.

2. Use of the Platform

You agree to use NaijaWatch responsibly and only for lawful purposes. Information submitted through the platform should be accurate and relevant to the matter being reported. You must not deliberately submit false or misleading information, or use the platform to submit defamatory, abusive, threatening, discriminatory, or unlawful content.

You should also avoid submitting passwords, financial credentials, identity documents, or other sensitive personal information unless it is specifically necessary and requested.

3. Reports and Verification

When submitting a report, you may provide information about a concern, its location, relevant circumstances, and supporting photographs, videos, documents, or other evidence. Submitting a report does not mean that the information has been independently verified or that the person, organisation, institution, or entity referred to in the report has been found responsible for wrongdoing.

Reports may be reviewed, categorised, analysed, verified, investigated, referred to relevant actors, or otherwise assessed where appropriate. However, NaijaWatch does not guarantee that every report will be investigated, verified, referred, or resolved, or that any government institution or other relevant authority will take action.

4. Information We Collect

Depending on how you use NaijaWatch, we may collect information such as your name, contact details, voluntarily provided location information, report details, photographs, videos, documents, information submitted through the Champions programme, and other information you choose to provide.

We may also collect limited technical or usage information where necessary to operate, secure, and improve the platform. Please provide only information that is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which you are using NaijaWatch.

5. How We Use Your Information

We may use information collected through NaijaWatch to process and manage reports, communicate with users, support verification, identify recurring governance and community concerns, conduct research and monitoring, administer the Champions programme, improve the platform, maintain security, produce aggregated or anonymised analysis, and support public-interest accountability.

Where applicable, personal information will be processed on a lawful basis recognised under Nigerian data protection law, including consent, compliance with legal obligations, legitimate interests, public-interest purposes, or other applicable lawful bases.

5. Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. Information may be accessed or shared where reasonably necessary to operate NaijaWatch, process or verify reports, administer programmes, conduct research and monitoring, work with relevant partners or service providers, comply with legal obligations, protect the rights and safety of users and others, or pursue legitimate public-interest purposes.

Where information is shared with third parties, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that it is handled appropriately and in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

7. Public Information and Anonymisation

Information from reports may be used for public-interest, accountability, research, advocacy, monitoring, or educational purposes.

Where appropriate, information may be aggregated, anonymised, or de-identified before publication or wider dissemination. Submitting personal information to NaijaWatch does not automatically mean that your name, contact details, or other identifying information will be publicly disclosed.

8. Uploaded Evidence

If you upload photographs, videos, documents, or other materials, you confirm that you have the right or appropriate permission to submit them.

You should avoid uploading material containing unnecessary personal, confidential, or sensitive information about yourself or another person. We may remove, restrict access to, or decline to publish material where necessary for privacy, safety, legal, ethical, or security reasons.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

However, no online platform or electronic transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should therefore avoid submitting passwords, financial credentials, security codes, or other information that could create unnecessary security risks.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including report processing, verification, follow-up, programme administration, research, monitoring, accountability, reporting, and other legitimate organisational purposes.

The retention period may vary depending on the type of information, the purpose for which it was collected, whether it is required for an ongoing matter, and any applicable legal, regulatory, contractual, or other legitimate requirement.

When personal information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete, destroy, or irreversibly anonymise it, subject to any applicable retention requirement.

Information relating to reports may, where appropriate, be retained in anonymised or de-identified form for research, statistical, historical, monitoring, accountability, and public-interest purposes.

11. Your Data Protection Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have rights to access your personal information, request correction or deletion, object to or restrict certain processing, request portability where applicable, withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, and lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority.

You may contact us to request information about how your personal information is processed or the retention period applicable to it.

12. NaijaWatch Champions

If you apply to become a NaijaWatch Champion, we may collect additional information necessary to administer the programme, including your name, contact details, location, areas of interest, experience, motivation, social media information, photograph, and other information you voluntarily provide.

If you voluntarily submit a video or other public-facing material, it may be used for programme-related communication, visibility, advocacy, learning, or promotional purposes where you have provided the relevant consent.

Participation as a NaijaWatch Champion does not create an employment, agency, partnership, or formal representative relationship with OKDI unless expressly agreed in writing.

13. Third-Party Services and Links

NaijaWatch may use third-party services, hosting providers, technical tools, analytics services, communication services, or other external providers to support the platform.

The platform may also contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of those third parties.

14. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise stated, the NaijaWatch platform, branding, logos, design, text, software, and other original materials are owned by or used with permission by OKDI or relevant partners.

You may not reproduce, modify, distribute, or commercially exploit protected materials without appropriate permission, except where permitted by law.

15. No Guarantee of Outcomes

NaijaWatch is a civic accountability and public-interest platform. It is not a government authority, law-enforcement agency, court, investigative body, or emergency response service.

Submitting a report does not guarantee investigation, government action, compensation, correction of an issue, or any other particular outcome.

Where a matter presents an immediate threat to life, health, or safety, users should contact the appropriate emergency or competent authority rather than relying solely on NaijaWatch.

16. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Use & Privacy from time to time to reflect changes to the platform, our activities, applicable law, technology, or data protection practices.

Where material changes are made, we will update the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice.

17. Contact Us

NaijaWatch is operated by the Open Knowledge Development Initiative (OKDI).

Email: Website: okdinitiative.org

For questions about these Terms, privacy, data protection, reports, or your personal information, please contact us using the details above.