Lukman Abdulrauf

Lukman Abdulrauf will spend his fellowship year working on an ongoing book project titled Constitutionalism and the Internet in Africa: Progress, Challenges and Prospects. Africa is currently recording significant milestones regarding information technology and Internet penetration. While this is a welcome development for human rights and the rule of law, it comes at a cost. The Internet is now a powerful instrument for human rights violations and suppression of the rule of law. This trend is easily noticeable in fragile democracies and widely perceived sound democracies on the continent. Violations of individuals' data privacy rights and freedom of expression are now common in many African countries. While academics have proffered several solutions, not so much has been said about the role of African constitutions in protecting digital rights and promoting digital Constitutionalism. Therefore, this project will analyze how basic constitutional theories and principles can be applied to fostering digital Constitutionalism in Africa.

Abdulrauf is a senior lecturer of public law at the University of Ilorin and an honourary research fellow at the School of Law, University of KwaZulu Natal. His research primarily focuses on the intersection between law and information technology, concentrating on digital rights. He is also currently a co-investigator of an NIH-funded grant on the “legal dimensions of using data science for health discovery and innovation” (DS-I Africa Law). Lukman is the STIAS-Iso Lomso fellow at CASBS.
For more information, please see: https://law.ukzn.ac.za/dr-lukman-abdulrauf/