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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expressed commitments to work with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in ensuring compliance by operators and other stakeholders at the Nigerian capital market to the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), particularly as it relates to usage of citizens’ personal data.
The Director-General of the Commission, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said that the commission was serious on the issue of data protection in the capital market.
The SEC will continue to create the necessary awareness and foster safe conduct of transactions and usage of personal data in the Nigerian capital market, Yuguda assured at a webinar meeting on NDPR designed to enlighten the capital market community on the provisions of the NDPR:
“You may recall that in 2019, NITDA issued the NDPR with the objective of safeguarding the rights of persons to data privacy.
“It will also foster safe conduct for transactions involving the exchange of personal data, prevent manipulation of personal data and ensure that Nigerian businesses remain competitive internationally,” said Yuguda as quoted in a statement issued on Sunday by the SEC’s Head, Corporate Communication, Mrs Efe Ebelo.
Adding: “By this regulation, therefore, all private and public organizations that collect, process, store, archive and destroy data of natural persons in Nigeria or of Nigerians resident abroad, are required to comply with the provisions of the regulation.
“Since the Commission and indeed all capital market operators perform these activities on data, as covered by the NITDA-NDPR, we are also subject to the new regulation, in one way or the other.”
The Director General of the NITDA, Mr. Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, expressed the agency’s readiness to provide advisory support on NDPR implementation for the market.
NITDA is committed to helping to ensure the market adhere to standardized compliance, said Abdullahi. He was represented at the webinar by the Lead-NDPR Desk of NITDA, Mr Olufemi Daniel.
