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By Ezra Ukanwa, Abuja

Professor Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has restated plans of the Federal Government, FG, to set in motion laws responsible for protecting the digital rights of all Nigerians.

Pantami who disclosed this in Abuja during a roundtable discussion on Data Privacy and Protection organised by the Public & Private Development Center, PPDC, expressed optimism that his ministry in collaboration with several other regulatory bodies is working to ensure data protection and privacy in Nigeria.

Represented by Dr Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, Pantami said that the Bureau with 10 other committees is investigating digital loan sharks in Nigeria.

He said: “We are all aware that a national data protection Bureau has created last week Friday and the President in his wisdom appointed me as managing director and CEO.

“I will say that in that capacity this is the fourth official assignment that I am attending and that speaks volumes to what we do here today and the fact that we are ready to work with our partners, public sector private, advocacy groups because the issue of data privacy or potential rights or freedom of doing business online concerns everybody to work together.

“I think it is really important to give us basic information about how we started the issue of digital data privacy. And where we are today. I will actually get back to the bureau.

“We all know that the global digital economy is worth over $5 trillion as of today.

“But a step was taken in 2019 when the President in his wisdom in expanding the ministry of Communication designated the ministry as Ministry of communications and digital.

“The first thing that the Minister did was to craft a national economic policy strategy for the country. The first pillar under that strategy is developmental regulation. And what we are discussing is all about regulation.

“How do we regulate the sector, how do we regulate what we do online, how do we protect the right to privacy or freedom of Nigerians? That is all.

“We are aware that almost everything is going online every day. Nigeria has a total number of 104 online users and you know what that means. That’s over 50% to go every day to transact businesses and this calls the attention of all of us to ensure that we protect whatever we do and protect the rights, the freedom, kind of data and information we put online.

“That is why the Minister in 2019 issued the major data protection regulation which according to the convener and as acclaimed globally, that is a major regulation that we have in the area of data protection in Nigeria as of today.

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“Within three years, we gained a lot of progress, in terms of job creation, in terms of citizens in terms of audit filing, and that is why what even led to the birth of this bureau, which is dedicated to what to is done globally that we have the full fledged institution that would provide the right of citizens to do business online.

“In doing this, since the bureau was created, we have been working assiduously to ensure that proper strategic plan on what to do, how to do it, who does what and who are stakeholders.

“But on our own path, we have a joint committee made up of about 10 regulatory bodies we have NIDA, we have NCPC,  and others and they are working together and tackling issues of lenders and how they access information, data they lend money to.  We are already working and they will hear from us.

“Then, on having a law, a full law to drive the rights of citizens in Nigeria, a law actually went to the National Assembly about three years ago.

“But there are some things that were amended that we needed to make and one of the major priorities of this law is to ensure that this law is passed before the end of the current tenure of the current government.”

He stressed that the NDPB will be at the forefront to create awareness on data privacy, freedom and implementation of sanctions on defaulters. 

He further emphasised that the establishing regulation of NDPB will regulate the digital space, help to investigate loan sharks, ensure Nigerians data privacy and ensure companies file data privacy compliance reports.

“That is why President, Muhammadu Buhari, based on the advice of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, created the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau(NDPB) was created.

“To ensure that the draft law is pushed for passage in the National Assembly before the end of 2022; to ensure that we regulate what people do online in terms of how do we protect their data privacy, how do we guarantee users freedom online and companies are expected to file data privacy compliance reports.

“We have actually  started  meeting, but we must  understand that these loan sharks target the vulnerable groups in the society”

“So these are the things we are looking at and with the fact that we need a very firm regulatory instrument to be able to deal with it and that is why we have federal consumer protection commission, we have Central Bank of Nigeria CBN(CBN), that is in the area of financial regulation in the area of technology we have National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and in the area of the privacy itself we have the NDPB, we have the Nigeria Police Force.

“So what we are looking at is what type of regulation can we really put in place to address this adequately. On our part we want to thoroughly investigate it and know the best way to address it”, he stated.

Earlier, in her remarks, CEO PPDC, Nkem Ilo, urged Federal Government to collaborate with stakeholders on the creation of awareness on digital rights, data privacy and digital parenting.

Nkem advocated that technologies users should be conscious of personal data disclosure while online in order to avoid data breaches.

“Now is the time to focus on educating citizens. We have the National  Orientation Agency whose purpose is to educate, orient. We need those kinds of agencies to begin to us about what we should be aware of when signing documents. What will even constitute a violation of my right to protection, of my right to privacy? What will constitute that and when that has been violated where fo I go to?”. 

She disclosed that the federal government should be more proactive in educating children about data privacy, digital rights by infusing them into the school’s curriculum.

“We need more of the government taking onboard that school curriculum to begin to teach our children just the way our children know offhand that they are going to study maths, that they know they have to pass their English, they also need to be aware of what their online safety is and that is one thing we have also taken on board”, she advised.

Stakeholders from Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency(NITDA), Nigeria Immigration Service, Civil society Organisations and other sectors crossed fertilized on the issue of digital parenting, safety and relevant emerging debates on data privacy with the focus of educating Nigerians

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