President Bola Tinubu made a significant move in bolstering Nigeria’s digital landscape on Monday as he signed the Data Protection Bill into law.
The enactment of this legislation marks a turning point for the nation’s data privacy framework, providing renewed hope for over 200 million Nigerians.
In an official statement released by Babatunde Bamigboye, the Head of Legal Enforcement and Regulations at the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), it was revealed that the bill’s signing signifies a giant leap forward for Nigeria in the global data race.
The statement read in part, “Nigeria has taken a giant leap forward in the global data race with the assent to Nigeria Data Protection Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Act was signed on the 12th of June 2023.
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“The NDPB, pursuant to the express provisions of the new act, has transmuted into a full-fledged commission and it is mandated to among others:
(a) regulate the deployment of technological and organisational measures to enhance personal data protection;
(b) foster the development of personal data protection technologies, in accordance with recognised international best practices and applicable international law;
conduct investigations into any violation of a requirement under the Act;
(c) impose penalties in respect of any violation of the provisions of the Act or subsidiary legislation made thereof;
(d) where necessary, accredit, license, and register suitable persons to provide data protection compliance services;
(e) issue regulations, rules, directives and guidance under the Act; and
(f) register data controllers and data processors of major importance.”
The bureau further disclosed that the act is one of the strategic ways the president is fulfilling his campaign promise of creating 1 million jobs in the digital economy sector.
About 500,000 jobs are expected to be created through the training of data protection officers and licensing of data protection compliance organisations to offer services to data controllers and processors.
