National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), Dr. Vincent Olatunji has lauded the Minister of Communication & Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, for his foresight in pushing the agenda officially for Nigeria’s digital economy and its concomitant impacts including the setting up of the data privacy bureau.
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Olatunji was speaking at the recent Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers event in Lagos where he was honoured as one of Nigeria’s Eminent Digital Economy Enablers. He was presented the award by the Lagos State Honorable Commissioner of Science & Technology, Mr. Hakeem Popoola Fahm even as he affirmed the commitment of government to ensuring Nigeria meets the global benchmark for privacy regulations.
Organised by IT Edge News.Africa and partners, the event brought together stakeholders in the digital economy ecosystem. The award ceremony is part of the West Africa Convergence Conference (WACC) inaugurated since 2007, almost two decades ago.
The privacy ombudsman stressed the need for public private partnership (PPP) as a mechanism for fostering sustainable data governance. While explaining the scope of Nigeria Data Protection Bill, the Dr. Olatunji reiterated “the developmental approach adopted by Nigeria with a view to safeguarding data privacy rights, data sovereignty and promoting sustainable growth of our digital economy through equitable cross border data flows.”
Data protection with privacy has become the business of everyone whether as individuals or corporate entities, said Olatunji who was honoured alongside other prominent Nigerians and corporate entities including the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, and Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kachifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
Other organisations honoured include Tezza Solutions, PFS, Switch Solutions, Open Access Data Centres (OADC); FinTrak Software Co. Ltd; Ezzential Global Services Ltd; Crystalfix Nigeria LTD (CNL); Zora Communication Limited; Information Connectivity Solution Limited (ICSL); Unitellas International Limited; Swift Telephone Network Ltd (STN); HD Technologies and Smart Web Nigeria Limited.
The WACC/Top 50 Award has gained reputation as the Industry Stakeholders’ Recognition for Excellence and Leadership in nearly two decades of its inauguration.