To strengthen Nigeria’s position on the world map of the digital economy, President Bola Tinubu has signed the Nigerian Data Protection Bill into Law.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Babatunde Bamigboye, the Director of Legal Endorsement and Regulations at the Nigerian Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), highlighted that the President gave the Bill his assent on Monday, June 12, 2023, as Nigeria advances in the fight for global data.
Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner of NDPB, expressed extreme optimism about the prospects of Nigeria’s Digital Economy following the emerging regulatory dispensation while also praising the President for reinstating the hope of over 200 million Nigerians in the advancement of privacy rights and other fundamental freedoms both in cyberspace and in analog transactions.
According to the explicit provisions of the new Act, the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau has been transformed into a full-fledged Commission with the responsibility to, among other things, regulate the deployment of technological and organizational measures to enhance personal data protection; foster the development of personal data protection technologies in accordance with acknowledged international best practices and applicable international law; and conduct investigations into any violators.
Others include the need to issue regulations, rules, directives, and guidance under the Act as well as the need to register data controllers and data processors of significant importance. Penalties for violations of the provisions of the Act or subsidiary legislation made thereunder are also to be imposed.
The Act, it was further stated in the announcement, is one of President Tinubu’s campaign pledges to create one million employees in the digital economy sector. The licensing of Data Protection Compliance Organizations to provide services to data controllers and processors and the training of Data Protection Officers are estimated to generate about 500,000 jobs.
