…Data protection has created over 8,000 jobs – Olatunji

By Emmanuel Elebeke & Chiamaka Uwalaka

The Chairman Senate Committee on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cybercrime, Yakubu Useni, says the Upper Legislative chamber is committed and ready to grant accelerated passage of the National Data Processing Bill into law.

Sen. Useni made the pledge on Monday during the one-day workshop preparatory to the passing of the National data Processing Bill for the country by National Assembly held in Abuja.

The law maker, who regretted the failure of the President to sign the bill into law in 2019 said the red chamber was anxiously waiting for the bill to be represented by the executive to be given a speedy passage into law.

“I want to assure that as National Assembly members, we will make sure, we do justice to the bill. We need to give legal backing to the agency.

“We are waiting for them to bring the bill and we will ensure it gets to the president within One month.”

“This is a legislation that is supposed to have seen the light of the day since 2019. But unfortunately when the bill was sent to the president it was not assented to by the president.

“Now that it’s coming from the executive side; I believe that it will see the light of the day.”

“This is an agency set up to protect the data of individuals and organisations. Before there was no such law.”

“As an individual you have right to say no that someone shouldn’t use your data,

It should be a law for somebody to say you consent before using your data.

“Your data is your property, your data is your life, your data is you, and before somebody have access to your data in any form then they have to seek your consent.”

On his part, the Chairman House Committee on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Cybercrime, Abubakar Lado also expressed the willingness of the Lower chamber to give the bill a speedy passage.

“As National Assembly, we are committed to the wellbeing of Nigerians. We want to assure the agency that anytime the bill comes to us we will ensure its speedy passage.’’

In his keynote speech delivered at the event, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Pro. Isa Ali Ibrahim, who spoke via recorded speech, said: “The event is to sensitise our National Assembly members before the executive bill is presented to the National Assembly so that you (legislators) can block all the gaps.

“This bill will ensure the privacy and confidentiality of the data of our citizens.”

Fielding questions from journalists, the National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, said the bill would be ready for Federal Executive Council, FEC approval by October for onward transmission to the National Assembly.

“By October we will send the bill to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy who will forward it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for it to be sent as an Executive bill to the National Assembly.”

Earlier in his welcome address, NDPB Commissioner said, the agency has created over 8000 jobs by certifying over 5000 data protection experts. “Our believe is that the bill will be passed before the end of this year”.

Project Coordinator, Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D)

Solomon Odole, said, ‘’as partners we need to carry all relevant stakeholders along to avoid what happened the last time the bill failed to get presidential assent.

‘We need to carry all relevant stakeholders along, such as NIMC, Legislators and all other relevant stakeholders. Because we know that if they’re not carried along the bill may suffer same faith with the previous one.’’
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Justice Ministry critical to enactment of Data Protection Law – NDID4D Coordinator
By Emmanuel Elebeke

The Coordinator of the Nigeria Digital Identification for development Project, Mr Solomon Musa Odole has described the Federal Ministry of Justice as a very critical stakeholder in the enactment of the National Data Protection bill by the national assembly.

Odole stated this on Wednesday to a group of lawyers from the ministry at a workshop the project convened “Setting the Parameters for Data Privacy and Protection, and data privacy and information society,’’ held at Fraser Suites hotel, Abuja.

He said the workshop was convened to apprise them of what needed to be done to passing the bill, because carrying along all stakeholders was essential to achieving results.

The NDID4D Coordinator reiterated the project’s collaboration with the National Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) since it was created in February 2022 and that it would facilitate the enactment of the bill before the end of the year.“

“We believe that our stakeholders should be carried along because we need results in everything we do. This is what we have been doing since we began this process,” Odole said.

In his welcome address, the National Commissioner of the NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji noted that the issue of data privacy was now receiving global attention as it was central to all digital transactions.

He said: “We all give our data willingly and thus require protection. Your consent is important as a data subject”.

Olatunji added that while Nigeria had several regulations on data protection, we needed to have a principal law to align with global best practice and improve our global competitiveness as ‘’investors would like to do business with us once we have a law in place’’.

While the law had been passed by an Act of the parliament in 2019, it was not assented to by Mr President. The Bureau had begun the process again with awareness creation, capacity building and shared knowledge on protection, privacy, and information society’’, he explained.

He commended the cooperation of the legal services department of the justice Ministry with the NDPB and would want them to be involved in the process of passing the data protection law, including a validation workshop on the bill planned for next week.

In her goodwill message, Mrs Ifunanya Nwajagu, the Director of the legal drafting department of the FMOJ, commended the working relationship established between the Department with the NDID4D and the NDPB.

She noted the imperatives of data to sustainable development and thus the significance of data protection to the nation, while calling on her colleagues to participate fully in the workshop to gather knowledge on what was required of them in the passage of the bill.

Nwajagu added that the workshop was important to ensure that they were trained on what was expected of them towards the passage of the data protection and privacy bill.

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Meta unveils tracking tech for missing children
By Emmanuel Elebeke

A technology driven company, Meta on Wednesday launched a tracking strategy for missing children called AMBER Programme on facebook and Instagram.

The Amber Programme, which was launched in partnership with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking, NAPTIP, is a programme aimed at helping to find abducted children by sending AMBER Alert to the Alert call Facebook and Instagram community in Nigeria.

AMBER Alert is designed to increase the chances of finding missing children by putting more people on the lookout for them.

When activated by law enforcement agency, the AMBER Alert will appear on the Facebook and Instagram Feed of users within the designated search area, enabling them to share the information instantly with friends or contact the authorities if they have leads.

Meta Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa, Meta, Adaora Ikenze, explained that the AMBER Alert is designed to include important information about the missing child such as a photo description, location of the abduction, and other relevant available information to aid in immediate identifying the missing child.

Meta’s Director of Trust and Safety, Emily Vacher said: “Already available across 28 countries globally, we are proud to partner with NAPTIP to make AMBER Alert available in in Nigeria – the second African Country to join this programme. When there is a reported case of a missing child, the most valuable thing one can do is share information as quickly as possible. By working with law enforcement in helping to share the right information with the right people, we hope that missing children will be safely reunited with their families faster.’’

According to Ikenze, ‘’the partnership with NAPTIP is another important milestone in reinforcing Meta’s on-going commitment to Nigeria. We know our app can be used as a force for good, and the AMBER Alert launch across Instagram and Facebook highlights this.’’

She further stated that Meta would continue to expand the programme globally as soon as possible.

In terms of inter-agency collaboration, she said a team had been set up for a seamless collaboration among all relevant stakeholders, as well as information sharing.

She however, urged every agency to report timely to NAPTIP any case of child missing or trafficking for prompt action.

On how AMBEER Alert works, Vacher said the decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by NAPTIP when investigating a suspected abduction case, they must first determine if the case meets their AMBER Alert criteria, which includes: the abduction of a child age 17 or younger; NAPTIP must have reasonable belief that there has been an abduction; NAPTIP believes the victim is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or exploitation and there is enough description ton issues an AMBER Alert to assist in recovering the child .

Once these conditions have been met, NAPTIP will then notify Meta’s Global Security Operations Centre, which operates 24/7, that verified AMBER Alert is active .

Meta will then send the alert to the News Feeds of people located in targeted search areas in Nigeria.

In her remarks, the Director General of NAPTIP, Dr, Fatima Waziri said, ‘’Today we are partnering with Meta to launch the AMBER Alert Programme on Facebook and Instagram to help ensure faster response in finding missing children.

‘’With these alerts, more people can be on the lookout for kids reported missing in their vicinity and report all leads to relevant authorities. NAPTIP cherishes every aspect of the intending collaboration and we are indeed glad to be on board with Meta.’’

AMBER Alert was first launched on Facebook in 2015 and since then has assisted in hundreds of successful child endangerment cases in the US and around the world.

Recall that one of the success stories of AMBER Alert was in 2020 when Amanda Disley and her husband helped rescue 11-year old Charlotte Moccia of Springfield, Massachusetts , after seeing an AMBER Alert non Facebook. Before that, a four-year-old girl was recovered after Kaytlin Brown saw an AMBER Alert issued onI Facebook on her launch break and quickly took action.

Just this year, Meta added Instagram to the AMBER Alert Programme across the world by making it available in 28 additional countries, and now, in Nigeria.

As part of the launch of AMBER Alerts in Nigeria, Meta and NAPTIP have agreed to educate users in Nigeria on how to identify AMBER Alerts on their feed and what to do when they see an alert.