By 
By Nwakaego Alajemba
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) will from January 25th lead other stakeholders in Nigeria’s budding data industry to celebrate the World Privacy Day which holds every 28 January.
The week-long activities on raising awareness on data asset, security and privacy are designed by the government IT clearinghouse as part of the National Privacy Week.
Nigeria officially joined the rest of the world last year January to celebrate the World Privacy Day as the NITDA kicked started series of activities in commemoration of the global privacy week.
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “Data Privacy Day (known in Europe as Data Protection Day) is an international event that occurs every year on 28 January. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. It is currently observed in the United States, Canada, Israel, 47 European countries and many other countries across the globe where the data industry is steadily growing.
NDPR and Privacy right
NITDA’s choice of 25th January to begin the National Privacy Week is historically symbolic.The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) was issued on 25th January, 2019 to give legal with regulatory framework for Nigeria’s data industry.
The NDPR has since helped to foster an industry for thousands of professionals with more than 70 Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DCPOs) licensed by the NITDA to provide professional services to assist public and private entities to meet the data privacy compliance requirements as stipulated by law.
Privacy right now global obligation
Privacy right is already a global obligation and is increasingly becoming a standard requirement for trans-national business pacts.
Since the implementation of NDPR., the NITDA has helped to advance privacy rights in Nigeria’s push for a digital economy and also to properly positioned the country to leverage global business opportunities.
According to an assessment report on the NDPR, one year after it was unveiled, the country has recorded “the creation of 2,686 new jobs and the data protection sector netted over 2.2 billion naira. This is expected to significantly improve as awareness is deepened in the public and private sectors.”
Wikipedia further states: “Data Privacy Day’s educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking. The educational focus has expanded over the years to include families, consumers and businesses.
“In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy.
“The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals and educators.”
