By 
By Christabel Ume
The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) has expressed commitment to exploring collaborations to foster “a national culture of compliance to data privacy.”
The NDPB reiterated this commitment recently during courtesy visits to the apex monetary authority, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Abuja.
The National Commissioner/Director General of the privacy watchdog, Dr. Vincent Olatunji said the visits are part of NDPB’s awareness drive to sensitize stakeholders in the public sector on data privacy in Nigeria.
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According to Olatunji, the Bureau’s major role is to ensure data security for all Nigerians by compelling all organisations in Nigeria adhere to the provisions of the NDPR.
The NDPB team inside the NHIA in Abuja.
Both the CBN and NHIA are major data controllers in the financial and health sectors respectively. “It is strategic that organisations such as these are taken along in the awareness process as partners in making Nigeria a better data privacy country.” said Olatunji.
Received by the CBN’s Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, the National Commissioner of the Bureau and his team discussed how to enhanced data protection in the financial sector and also build a synergy to bolster a robust data privacy ecosystem in Nigeria.
Obiora assured that the CBN will help to drive the provisions of the the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), Nigeria’s principal legislation on data protection, within the financial sector to ensure compliance by operators.
At the NHIA, Director General, Prof M. N. Sambo, expressed confidence that the agency could better meet its mandate without breaching the NDPR through the guidance of the NDPB.
He said the agency recently commissioned its data centre and will need to apply the provisions of the NDPR in the operation of the data centre as it concerns collection and management of citizens’ data.
The two organisations agreed to establish a joint working committee to develop an MOU to define a partnership that will encourage compliance to the NDPR by stakeholders in the health sector.
