DataPro: Data Protection Bill will Safeguard Privacy of Nigerians

Festus Akanbi

As Nigeria joined the rest of the world in marking Data Privacy Day yesterday, fresh insights have been given into the proposed Data Protection Bill currently being put together by some stakeholders in the nation’s economy in line with what is obtained in other climes.

A statement by DataPro, a leading Compliance Solutions Company in Nigeria, and one of the licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO) yesterday explained that the Bill will provide a more robust and efficient regulatory framework for the protection of personal data, to regulate the processing of information relating to data subjects, and to safeguard their fundamental rights and freedoms as Nigerians.

DataPro’s Team Lead, Data Protection and Privacy Compliance Department, Ademikun Adeseyoju said in a statement that the Data Protection Bill which will soon be passed into law by the National Assembly will come with the establishment of a Data Protection Commission. This new commission, according to him, will be
charged with the responsibility of protection of personal data, rights of data subjects, regulation of the processing of personal data and related matters.

The statement which was signed by the Client Services Manager, of DataPro Limited, Mr Kehinde Rasheed, enjoined Nigeria to emulate countries like Zambia, Rwanda, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the UAE, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan which enacted/amended laws on data protection in 2021. It added that the trend is expected to continue in the coming years and will be a major deciding factor in the relationship between countries.

Speaking on Data Protection and Privacy Requirements for Businesses in Nigeria, the company’s Team Lead, Data Protection & Privacy Compliance Department, Ademikun Adeseyoju was quoted as saying that “The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019 was issued in January 2019 by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the regulatory agency charged with driving Data Protection compliance in Nigeria. The issuance of the NDPR 2019 provided an array of obligations for data controllers and processors in Nigeria. Data Controllers and Processors are obligated to appoint a Data Protection Officer to ensure company-wide adherence to the regulation.

Speaking further, Adeseyoju explained that Similarly, Data Controllers and Processors who process the personal data of more than
2000 data subjects in 12 months are required to conduct an annual Data Protection Audit and file the report with NITDA. This is to showcase their level of compliance with the provisions of the NDPR.

He listed some of the rights put in place by the Nigerian Data Protection Reports to include the right of access, The right to rectification, the right to erasure personal data from a Data Controller and Processor system and the right to restrict processing.