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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has advertised a public bid for any institution seeking to offer and manage professional certifications in data protection knowledge.
Deadline for submission of the application is Friday 2nd July, 2021. View ADVERT.
The move is part of the IT regulator’s plan to grow awareness and build data protection capacity across country so that many young Nigerians can “take advantage of the emerging data economy.”
NITDA issued the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2019 to officially give birth to Nigeria’s data protection industry. The NDPR is designed “to ensure the protection of data privacy of Nigerians, safe exchange of personal data, improve ease of doing business and to create economic and growth opportunities for Nigerians.”
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The NITDA is mandated by Section 6 (a,c) of the NITDA Act, 2007 and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2019 to regulate data protection in Nigeria.
“Further engagements with Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO), academia, international organisations indicate that data protection processes need to be standardized for Nigeria to maintain her leading role in data protection in Africa and beyond.
“In view of the foregoing and in line with NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (2021-2024), the Agency now wishes to a competent institution to act as data protection knowledge and certification institution on behalf of the Government of Nigeria,” the agency states in the advertisement signed by Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs. Hadiza Umar.
Responsibilities
The Responsibilities of the successful institution include the following:
i. coordinate the development of training materials in line with global best practices and inputs from academia as well asrelevant stakeholders;
ii. register training providers based on internationally acceptable standards;
iii. conducteprofessional examinations to certify skill and competencies for data protection professionals;
iv. provide,under the authority of NITDA, certificates to successful candidates;
v. prepare strategy to certify 350,000 persons as Data Protection Officers and to register at least 500 Training Service Providersby 2024;
vi. conduct research to deepen the data protection and information management knowledge domain;
vii. maintain an active database of certified persons;
viii. support and advise NITDA on the development of code of practices, frameworks and other regulatory activities related to the principal function; and
ix. any other responsibilities assigned to it by NITDA through the license.
