The Federal Government has said the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) would be implemented, using indigenous-developed solutions.
In an interview with the media on Monday in Abuja for the upcoming 2024 Data Privacy Week, Vincent Olatunji, the national commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), revealed this.
Data Privacy Day is observed on January 28 worldwide, although in Nigeria, it is observed from January 28 to February 4 in observance of the NDPC’s founding anniversary, which occurred on January 4, 2022.
Every year, there is a campaign to raise awareness among the populace about the value of internet privacy and to urge them to secure their personal information.
Mr. Olatunji recalled that President Bola Tinubu had signed the Nigeria Data Protection Bill into law in June 2023, which established a legislative framework for the safeguarding of personal data and data protection practices in Nigeria.
The NDPC commissioner stated that the government was thinking about ways to include indigenous solutions in the implementation of the legal framework.
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He revealed that one of the activities planned for 2024 Data Privacy Week was a hackathon aimed at making it easier to employ local resources to carry out the legislation.
According to the commissioner, “We are looking at what kind of technology we can deploy in terms of implementation of the mandate, enforcement, investigation, reporting, or any other thing that will come up.
“It is like creating a formidable ecosystem, and we want to have indigenous solutions that can address some of these areas.”
In addition, he said that winners of the hackathon would be awarded, as well as organisations that had done well in data protection and compliant regulation.
The commissioner also disclosed that NDPC would partner with the Nigeria Association of Computing Students (NACOS) to deepen awareness of data privacy protection.
He recalled that the commission, in the previous years, engaged a handful of schools to educate them on data privacy protection.
“We are widening the scope this year, and we are encouraging stakeholders to go to schools to preach the gospel of data privacy,” he said.
Mr Olatunji assured that the 2024 Data Privacy Week would be filled with activities to create awareness, evaluate performances, and map out new strategies.
