By Olumide Babalola, PhD
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There’s a fine line between a school celebrating its students and using them as unpaid advertising billboards. A recent judgment by the Federal High Court in Lagos has now drawn that line in bold letters. On March 4, 2026, Justice A.O. Faji delivered a judgment worthy of its description as as a landmark moment for student privacy rights in Nigeria.
In that case, Vera, the applicant, had enrolled for an aviation course at the respondent school. At some point, under circumstances that remain a bit murky, she submitted her picture to the school. Then life happened. She took a short break which meant she didn’t attend the graduation with her original class. But when she returned, she got the shock of her life. Her face was everywhere. Printed on a glass door at the school’s premises. Emblazoned on souvenirs handed out during graduation ceremonies. Not just once, these items were distributed in 2021, then again in 2022. Vera’s image had become the unofficial face of the school without her ever saying yes.
She asked politely through her lawyers, for the school to take her pictures down and pay compensation. The school didn’t comply. So off to the Federal High Court they went. In court, the school argued that the pictures were used for “educational purposes,” which they claimed fell under exemptions in the Nigerian Data Protection Act (NDPA). Hon. Justice A.O. Faji was not convinced when My Lord held that:
“It is not in dispute that the applicant’s photograph was displayed by the respondent on the door of its premises and also on souvenirs made to commemorate the graduation ceremonies of the 1st respondent which is a school. It has been contended that the use was not for a commercial purpose. It however seems to me that the 1st respondent is not a charitable institution and that it operates as a school for the purpose of making money. It also seems to me that even if the photograph was obtained for academic purposes, it was not so used as it was used to publicize and to make the school attractive to potential students and was not used for the purposes of academic instruction…That was from December, 2021 to 2023. It was also used for the respondent’s glass doors with the implication that whoever went to the respondent’s office was received or welcomed by a photograph of the applicant thus turning the applicant into the face of the respondent. How that does not amount to a commercial business advantage is not clear to me. As at 20th January 2024, the applicant’s image was still on the glass door of the respondent…The souvenirs were so many, they were not exhausted during the 2021 graduation but were also distributed during the 2022 graduation, thus emphasizing the business oriented nature of the use of the said photograph. Even the images of the applicant on the respondent’s glass door was only removed after applicant complained in 2024. I do not agree that a graduation ceremony of a school is not a commercial venture. It is. It is at that event that the school showcases what it has to the public showing its products for the purpose of obtaining custom(ers) from the general public.”
My Lord didn’t stop there. the court addressed specificity and granularity of consent and how vague and sneaky consent forms often are. The court alluded that a general – you agree to us using your photo – buried in fine print doesn’t cut it. Schools need to ask for specific permission for specific uses. The court clearly states that:
“Thus there must be consent specifically referable to the particular purpose or purposes, in this case, putting the image on the door of the organization and using same for the purposes of activities relating to the graduation ceremonies of the respondent and for brand promotions. The photographs were used for souvenirs… the burden of establishing consent is however placed on the data controller as stated in section 26 of the NDPA.”
And when the school tried to argue that Vera had somehow consented? My Lord, agains wasn’t convinced:
“How did the respondent establish consent. I have already alluded to the basis on which the respondents contend that the applicant gave her consent. I find that they do not amount to consent. The terms and conditions even if they implied consent were not shown to be the ones the applicant was expected to have acceded to. Even if it was, there is no provision therein stating that the applicant was at liberty to withdraw her consent. What is more, consent shall be in the affirmative, and not based on a pre-selected confirmation.”
It is settled data protection law that silence isn’t consent. Pre-ticked boxes aren’t consent. And if you can’t prove someone said “yes” to a specific use, you have no business using their image. In the end, the court ruled that the school had taken advantage of its position as a dominant party and that Vera’s image had been splashed around in ways that could never be fully taken back. The court found that:
“The respondent obtained the applicant’s photograph and chose to use it for the purposes of its business by attracting more students to its fold. That was at a great detriment to the applicant…. The respondent definitely benefitted from this act which was clearly wrong and an abuse of the dominant position of the respondent. I also note that the applicant is a young lady whose image has been splashed over various media, physical and virtual and that clearly irretrievable.”
In the end, the court awarded Vera twenty million naira in damages. This is believed to be one of the first cases in Nigeria where a student has sued their own school for privacy violations. And for anyone who’s ever cringed at seeing their face on a school banner they never agreed to, it’s a welcome sight. Hopefully, this judgment serves as a loud, clear warning to schools thar students are not free marketing tools. If you want to use their pictures for branding, graduation souvenirs, or glass-door greetings, you need to ask properly and respect their answer.
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