Contextual Integrity and Immigration Information Systems in Nigeria

Helen Nissenbaum’s Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life (2010) offers one of the most influential frameworks for understanding privacy in contemporary information societies. By conceptualizing privacy as contextual integrity, Nissenbaum shifts the debate from individual data control to the appropriateness of information flows within specific social contexts. This paper critically reviews the book through the lens of immigration and border information systems in Nigeria, drawing on the author’s academic training in Information Technology and professional experience within the Nigeria Immigration Service. The paper argues that contextual integrity provides a powerful normative framework for evaluating biometric systems, inter-agency data sharing, and surveillance practices in immigration governance. At the same time, it highlights limitations in applying the framework within developing-country contexts characterized by evolving legal regimes, infrastructural constraints, and institutional asymmetries. By integrating Nigerian legal instruments such as the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019, this paper extends Nissenbaum’s work into Global South governance settings and contributes to information ethics and ICT4D scholarship.