KNOW YOUR RIGHT: Can You Record Or Film a Police Officer on Duty in Nigeria? What the Law Says About Your Right
KNOW YOUR RIGHT
A Nigerian police officer stops you on the road. You bring out your phone and begin recording the encounter.
The officer tells you: “Stop recording me. It is illegal.”
Is the officer right?
No – not simply because you are recording.
A recent Federal High Court judgment has affirmed that Nigerians have a constitutional right to record police officers while they are performing their official duties in public, provided the recording does not unlawfully interfere with police operations.
The issue has become particularly important following recent comments by the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the response from Nigerian Bar Association President Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN.
What happened between the IGP and the NBA President?
During a meeting in Abuja with the NBA leadership, IGP Disu expressed concern about the increasing practice of citizens recording police officers with their phones.
The IGP said the recent court judgment had “jolted” police officers and complained that some Nigerians had gone beyond legitimate documentation, allegedly recording officers everywhere, including while they were eating.
He urged citizens not to turn police officers into content for skits and social-media entertainment.
The position of the NBA President was, however, that transparency should not be discouraged when police officers are lawfully performing their duties.
Badejo-Okusanya supported the principle that citizens should be able to record police activities for accountability, while acknowledging that officers also have a right to privacy when they are not engaged in official duties.
That distinction is important.
What does the Nigerian Constitution say?
Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides:
“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”
The Constitution does not specifically use the words “right to record the police with your phone.”
However, the constitutional protection of expression and the receiving and imparting of information provides an important legal foundation for documenting events occurring in public.
And, importantly, a Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, went further in a March 2026 judgment involving a police stop-and-search encounter.
The court affirmed Nigerians’ constitutional right to record police officers performing their duties in public and directed that officers should not harass, intimidate or arrest citizens merely for filming their official activities.
Reports of the judgment also state that officers were directed to display their names and force numbers during public operations.
So, can a Nigerian record a police officer?
Yes, when the officer is performing official duties in a public place, the law now strongly supports that right.
For example, a citizen may reasonably record:
A police stop-and-search operation;
An arrest taking place in a public place;
A confrontation between police and a member of the public;
An alleged act of police brutality;
A checkpoint operation;
Police conduct during a public demonstration or other public event.
Recording can provide independent evidence where there are conflicting accounts of what happened.
But there are limits
The right to record should not be misunderstood as a right to interfere with police work.
A citizen should not physically obstruct an officer, interfere with an arrest, enter a restricted area, endanger himself or others, or deliberately disrupt a police operation simply because he wants to obtain footage.
There is also a difference between documenting an officer performing public duties and secretly following or filming an officer during a private moment unrelated to police work.
This is where the concerns raised by both the IGP and the NBA President converge: accountability is legitimate; harassment and unnecessary intrusion are not.
What about South Africa, Kenya and Uganda?
Nigeria is not alone in confronting this question.
In South Africa, legal commentary and rights groups have long maintained that members of the public may photograph or film police officers performing their duties, provided they do not obstruct police operations.
In Kenya, former Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai publicly stated in 2021 that recording police officers objectively was not against the law, including during arrests.
Kenya’s constitutional framework also protects freedom of expression and access to information, while its laws recognise legitimate privacy and security limitations.
There is no general Kenyan statute that simply bans recording police officers performing public functions in public spaces.
Uganda similarly has a legal framework emphasising public access to government information, transparency and accountability. Its Access to Information Act gives citizens a right of access to information held by public bodies, subject to security and privacy limitations.
Uganda’s Police Act also expressly provides mechanisms for members of the public to complain about police corruption, oppression, intimidation, neglect or other misconduct.
The lesson for Nigeria is not that every African country has exactly the same recording law. It is that modern policing increasingly recognises transparency and independent documentation as important components of public accountability.
Nigeria should go a step further: Body cameras for police officers
If the Nigeria Police Force is genuinely concerned about citizens recording officers, there is a straightforward technological solution:
Equip frontline police officers with body-worn cameras.
Body cameras can provide an official record of police-citizen encounters and can protect both the citizen and the police officer.
If an officer is accused of brutality, the footage can provide evidence.
If a citizen falsely accuses an officer, the footage can also clear the officer.
International policing research has examined body-worn cameras as tools for evidence collection, accountability and police-community relations.
Nigeria therefore should not frame the debate simply as “police versus citizens filming police.”
The better question is:
How do we create a policing system where both sides know that their conduct can be independently verified?
HEADLINESWAVE.NG LEGAL POSITION
A citizen recording a police officer performing official duties in a public place should not automatically be treated as committing an offence.
The March 2026 Federal High Court judgment has strengthened that position, while the recent comments by IGP Disu do not amount to a declaration that citizens have lost the right to record police officers.
Indeed, reports of the IGP’s remarks indicate that his concern is principally about misuse of the practice, including turning officers into entertainment content.
Therefore, you have a right to document public events.
You have a constitutional right to receive and impart information.
You may record police officers performing their official duties in public, subject to lawful limitations.
But you must not obstruct police operations or unlawfully invade an officer’s private life.
And perhaps most importantly, the Nigeria
Police Force should embrace body-worn cameras as a modern accountability tool rather than viewing every citizen holding a camera as an enemy.
A camera can protect the citizen.
A camera can protect the police officer.
And, ultimately, the truth.
Headlineswave.ng reviewed the recent statements attributed to the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigerian Bar Association President alongside reports of the March 2026 Federal High Court judgment and relevant constitutional provisions.
This article is intended for public legal education and should not be treated as a substitute for advice from a qualified Nigerian legal practitioner in a specific case.
Source: 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Federal High Court judgment reported in March 2026; recent statements by the Inspector-General of Police and Nigerian Bar Association President.
