We’ve trained 5,746 Nigerians on data protection in 2021 — NITDA
…Data protection industry now worth N4.8bn
By Ogaga Ariemu
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said it has trained a total of 5,746 Nigerians on Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2021.
Director General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Abdullahi stated this during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Monday to kickstart this year’s ‘National Protection Week.’
Stating the successes recorded so far in the implementation of NDPR, Kashifu said NITDA has embarked on various capacity building initiatives which have resulted to the training of 5,746 Nigerians.
Abdullahi said Nigeria has moved from zero data privacy audit compliance in 2018 to 635 in 2020 and over 1,230 audit compliance in 2021 with the Finance, Consultancy, ICT & Digital Media and Manufacturing ranking as top performing sectors on data compliance.
He added that the estimated value of Data Protection Industry is the sum of N4,080,000,000.
“In 2021, we carried out training programmes on NDPR in 52 secondary schools across Nigeria. The various capacity building initiatives culminated in the training of a total number of about 5,746 Nigerian.
“We are particularly excited by the fact that Lagos State University has developed data privacy into a full-fledged course for students while other academic institutions are also putting in place various mechanisms to entrench Data Protection in their curricula.
“It is encouraging to note that we now have 103 DPCOs and we have created approximately 7,680 jobs for Nigerians in this regard. At the same time, the sum of N4,080,000,000 has been reported as the estimated value of the Data Protection Industry. Part of our vigilance measures is to monitor DPCOs and data controllers closely.”
He explained that it is only through an effective regulatory framework Nigeria can harness the full potentials of social media platform.
According to him, whatsoever is illegal offline is illegal online.
“For instance, according to some investigative reports by some international news agencies such as CNN, Reuters, BBC and Guardian (UK), Twitter and Facebook deleted some social media accounts operating in Nigeria and Ghana because they were linked to some foreigners who were using the said accounts to manipulate the public. Twitter categorically stated that the accounts were: “attempting to sow discord by engaging in conversation about social issues….” NDPR (Nigeria Data Protection Regulation) prohibits this manner of atrocious intrusion and manipulation of personal data. By collaborating as vanguards of Nigerian sovereignty, government agencies are sending signals to the big data community that it is not going to be business as usual.”
While responding to question on the issue of data privacy breaches by Loan-Apps, Kashifu reiterated NITDA’s resolve to sanction offenders in collaboration with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other relevant agencies.
“We will make sure to address that challenge in collaboration with CBN. We have sanctioned some of them, we are working with other policy makers to address this challenge,” he said.
Recall that in 2019 federal government established the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) for citizens data protection and to guarantee safer digital economy.
