Section 379 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria. Cases in which publication is conditionally privileged

The publication of defamatory matter is conditionally privileged, and no person is criminally liable in respect thereof, in the following cases‐

(1) if the defamatory matter consists of an extract from, or an abstract of, a petition to, or a Gazette or document published by or under the authority of, the President or a Governor of a State, or a Minister, and the publication is made without ill‐will to the person defamed; or

(2) if the defamatory matter constitutes, in whole or in part, a fair report, for the information of the public, of any public proceeding of any court, whether preliminary or final; or of any public proceeding of any body, constituted, or authorised to hold such proceeding by any Act, law, statute or order; or of any public meeting so far as the public is concerned in the matter published; if in every such case the publication is made without ill‐will to the person defamed; or

(3) if the publication is for the information of the public at the request of any government department or peace officer, or if the defamatory matter is any notice or report issued by such department or officer, for the information of the public, and if in every such case the publication is made without ill‐will to the person defamed; or

(4) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment either on any matter the publication of which, or on any report which, is hereinbefore in the preceding or this section referred to; or

(5) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment upon the public conduct of any person in public affairs, or upon the public conduct of any person employed in the public service in the discharge of his public duties, or upon the character of any of such persons so far as it appears by such conduct; or

(6) if the defamatory matter consists of fair comment on any published book or other literary production, or any composition or work of art, or performance publicly exhibited, or any other communication made to the public on any subject; or of the character of the author of such book, production, composition, work of art, or the person exhibiting such performance, so far as their characters may appear therefrom respectively; or

(7) if the publication is in good faith for the purpose of seeking remedy or redress for any private or public wrong or grievance from a person who has, or is reasonably believed by the person publishing to have, the right to remedy or redress such wrong or grievance; or

(8) if the publication is made in good faith by a person having any lawful authority over another, and is made by him in the course of a censure passed by him on the conduct of that other, in matters to which such lawful authority relates; or

(9) if the publication is made on the invitation or challenge of the person defamed; or

(10) if the publication is made in order to answer or refute some other defamatory matter published by the person defamed, concerning the person making the publication or some other person; or

(11) if the defamatory matter constitutes an answer to inquiries made of the person publishing it, relating to some subject as to which the person by whom or on whose behalf the inquiry is made, has, or on reasonable grounds is believed by the person publishing to have, an interest in knowing the truth, and if the publication is made in good faith for the purpose of giving information in respect of that matter to that person; or

(12) if the defamatory matter constitutes information given to the person to whom the defamatory matter is published, with respect to some subject as to which he has, or is on reasonable grounds believed to have, such an interest in knowing the truth, as to make the conduct of the person giving the information reasonable in the circumstances:

Provided that as regards paragraphs (7), (8), (9), (10) and (11) of this section, the person making the publication honestly believes the matter published to be true, the matter published is relevant to the matters the existence of which may excuse the publication of defamatory matter, and the manner and extent of the publication do not exceed what is reasonably sufficient for the occasion; and as regards paragraphs (12) that the defamatory matter is relevant to the subject therein mentioned, and that it is either true, or is made without ill‐will to the person defamed and in the honest belief, on reasonable grounds, that it is true.

Section 379 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria

Act structure