Legal practitioners have warned skit and prank artists against violating the rights of members of the public while producing their contents.
According to one of them, mocking someone publicly and editing footage to make them look foolish can qualify as defamation.
The practitioners said that while there were no specific, dedicated “prank laws” or “skit regulations,” in Nigeria, creators were fully liable for their content under existing criminal and civil laws.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday, the lawyers said the absence of specific laws highlighted significant gaps in Nigeria’s regulatory framework governing skit making and pranks on social media platforms.
One of the lawyers, Mr Ernest Nwike explained that what existed in Nigeria were constitutional rights, criminal laws, civil liability (torts), and newer digital regulations that applied depending on what the skit or prank actually did.
He said that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provided for freedom of expression under Section 39, while Section 37 guarantees and protects the right to privacy.
“So it creates a balance, you can create content but not at the expense of someone else’s rights,” he said.
The lawyer added that some Nigerian content creators went overboard while creating content and ended up either harming or defaming innocent people in the name of entertainment.
“So the legality of a prank depends more on if it violates someone’s rights,” Nwike said.
For his part, Ndubuisi Richard said publishing something that exposed a person to ridicule, hatred, or loss of reputation was also defamation.
“Skits and pranks fall in this category depending on what is portrayed in the content even though the law does not specifically state the category of skit making and pranks being a crime, there’s a thin line between this form of “entertainment ” and actually going against the law.
“Mocking someone publicly and editing footage to make them look foolish can qualify as defamation and get some skitmakers in trouble,” he said.
He added that in order to regulate what went out to the public, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was the primary regulatory body for broadcasting in Nigeria, established to control and monitor the industry and regulate content for national interest, and sanctioning violators.
“However, NBC mainly covers traditional media, not everyday social media skits.There is no single “skit or prank law” in Nigeria, but creators are regulated through defamation law (reputation), privacy & data protection laws (consent), cybercrime law (online harm/harassment) and constitutional rights,” he said.
Another Lawyer, Arinze Mbanefo said that in Nigeria, comedy and satire were legally protected under freedom of expression but they crossed into unlawful territory when they involved defamation, incitement or violated broadcasting codes.
“The constitution guarantees satire as political criticism yet comedians risk lawsuits or bans if their content damages reputations, threatens national security or breaches regulatory standards.
“Tighter regulations can however risk infringing on freedom of expression if not carefully balanced while regulation may help curb harmful content such as disinformation, hate speech and harassment, overly restrictive measures especially when driven by government can silence dissent, weaken democracy and limit civic participation,” he said.
For his part, Mr Ahmed Bello, warned that the rapid growth of digital creativity was outpacing existing laws in the country.
Bello said that skit making was not expressly defined under Nigeria law but that it was generally treated as audio-visual content adding that enforcement over online content remained limited.
Also speaking to NAN, Mr Richard Emmanuel explained that while comedy was a form of expression it did not excuse unlawful acts and that pranking unsuspecting members of the public could carry significant legal risks.
The lawyers were in agreement that there was no clear regulation for skit making or prank videos in the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act.
They conceded that Nigeria urgently required a more comprehensive legal framework to tackle the realities of online content creation in the digital age.
They, however, maintained that under Section 24 of the act, there was punishment for harmful conduct carried out through digital platforms which prank or skit content might fall into if it violated people’s rights.
NAN reports that Section 24 of the act imposes penalties ranging from up to 3 years’ imprisonment or N7 million fine for offensive or false messages.
It also prescribes up to 10 years imprisonment or a minimum of N25 million fine for serious threats, cyberstalking, or extortion, with additional penalties for violating court orders.
