The Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji in a virtual chat with Journalists covering the Information and Communications Technology sector in Nigeria has given a report of the activities of his Commission in the few years.
In the comprehensive report, Dr Olatunji said the signing of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 has improved Nigeria’s global data privacy ranking and attracted investors as Data protection compliance in the public sector has reached around 49 per cent.
He said the commission has created 200 jobs and experts working in the public and private sectors and over 160 Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) are licensed and rendering 17 service areas in Nigeria.
The commission disagrees with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the policy to leverage social media for account owners. The Commission has written CBN in this regard and will engage the apex bank on why such a policy is not proper.
Olatunji says the NDPC will fine organizations based on the impact of the data protection breaches adding that the commission is independent and based on the law that set it up it will be able to sustain itself financially from licencing of DPO, annual returns and fines from data protection breaches.
NDPC has sealed a partnership with the National Orientation Agency to have a spread across the country Olatunji says and the partnership will also help in awareness creation.
Fidelity Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Leadway Assurance and Babcock University are still under investigation for possible data protection breaches, according to him.
The data protection law is today seen as a global benchmark as it is based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
NDPC will continue to create awareness so every Nigerian, including data controllers and processors, will know their rights and obligations
The commission will leverage National Data Protection Adequacy Programme (NaDAP) to execute training programmes for Data Protection Officers (DPOs) to improve the capacity of organisations and individuals within such organisations to respond adequately to the technical and regulatory nuances of a data-protected environment.
The NDPC will implement the ACT recently signed by President Bola Tinubu graciously to ensure consistency and clarity with respect to the implementation of data protection standards across all sectors of the Nigerian economy
