CASE FOR DECRIMINALISING OF DEFAMATION IN NIGERIA

It is desirable that laws should change with changing circumstances. Any law that is static irrespective of the changes in the society deserves to be abrogated. It is against this backdrop that this paper examined the continued relevance of the laws in Nigeria that criminalise defamation when it is also a civil wrong that can be adequately redressed through award of damages. The paper found that despite the global trend to the contrary, defamation is still a criminal wrong in Nigeria because the legal framework for its criminalisation still exists in the statute book. The paper recommended that the legislature at both federal and state levels should abrogate the penal laws that criminalise defamation so that Nigeria’s law on defamation will align with the global best practices.