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COVER IMAGE: Pantami formally inaugurates Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB)
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Tuesday in Abuja, launched the logo, website and core values of Nigeria’s data protection agency as part of the ceremony for the formal inauguration off the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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“NDPB has been mandated by the government to ensure the coordination of all the existing laws in which data protection, data privacy or data confidentiality has been mentioned,” the minister said adding that data protection regulations were vital to attracting international investors as data protection has become a major criterion to determine digitally compliant countries.
According to Pantami, data protection is inherently a constitutional right enshrined in Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution as amended while stressing that much of world is not guided by strict adherence to data protection and privacy.
The European Union is guided by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU GDPR has become a global benchmark to ascertain countries’ data compliance level, the minister noted.
Already in place for the NDPB is a Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan Committee of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, a think factory consisting of experts from the public and private sectors to help drive the roadmap for the bureau and Nigeria’s data protection industry. The committee draws membership from Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs).
Under the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), DPCOs are licensed to conduct the audit and file the final reports of all public and private entities under lawful obligations to meet the NDPR compliance.
Established last February by President Buhari who also appointed of Dr. Vincent Olatunji as the pioneer National Commissioner/CEO of the bureau.
Pantami tasked the management of the NDPB to promote and protect data protection and privacy in Nigeria.
