Civic Space and COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has profound consequences for citizens and businesses across different Nigerian communities as the virus continues to shape local, national, and global agendas towards addressing the triple crisis of health emergency, economy, and political instability. As Nigeria emerged from the lockdown following the COVID-19 crisis, the Nigeria Network of NGOs has been documenting lessons from the measures and the impact they have on civic space. This report is based on two sets of evidence:

Open-source tracking of government measures through official press releases and statements issued by national and sub-national governments on their websites and social media handles.

Indicators developed by NNNGO for measuring/assessing the impact of measures taken by States using the UN Special Rapportuer on Freedom of Association and Assembly’s report on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Open Government Partnerships (OGP) guide to open government and the coronavirus: misinformation and protecting freedom of expression.