NDPB To NIMC: Upgrade Data Protection Process to Earn Nigerians Trust

The Nigerian Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) has started the full implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

This is done under the supervisory Ministry of Communications and Digital Technology by collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in upscaling the privacy of citizen’s data to earn their trust.

The NDPB National Commissioner, Dr Vincent Olatunji disclosed this during his working visit to the Corporate Headquarters of NIMC in Abuja. He says that the commission which is the highest data controller in the country should be a model for other data controllers since data is the foundation of everything in the country’s digital economy.

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In additio to this, NIMC Director General, Engr. Abdulaziz Aliyu Abubakar and his management team, Olatunji related that privacy of data is an essential element in the process of achieving proper identification of citizens.

“There is nothing you would want to do in the digital economy without proper identity and you can’t achieve that without adequate privacy and protection of data”, he noted.

According to Nigeria’s Data Security Officer, the next step in actualizing the Bureau’s mandate is to create awareness for data controllers and data processors of their obligations to data subjects, and there is no better place to start than with the NIMC.

Olatunji further urged the Commission to align with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) which is the subsidiary legislation governing data protection in the country, affirming the importance of data minimization in order to ensure a seamless process for citizens who wish to update their data.