By Progress Godfrey

The Federal Government has commissioned a property recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as the permanent headquarters of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani said the property was allocated to the commission by President Bola Tinubu as part of efforts to strengthen the institution responsible for protecting the data and privacy rights of Nigerians.

According to him, the NDPC had initially faced funding challenges and lacked a befitting headquarters despite its growing responsibilities in Nigeria’s expanding digital economy.

He explained that the President subsequently provided direct resources to the commission to enable it operate until its revenue could sustain its activities, while also directing that the recovered property be allocated as its headquarters.

“The property once associated with the consequence of corruption is today becoming the headquarters of an institution dedicated to protecting Nigerians and strengthening trust in our digital economy,” he said.

Tijani emphasised that data protection, cybersecurity and digital literacy are critical to the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy, particularly as more government services and businesses move online.

He also said the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had risen from about 16 per cent to 21 per cent in three years, adding that the government was investing in 90,000 kilometres of fibre and deploying 3,700 telecommunications towers to expand connectivity.

Speaking earlier, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said the commission had grown from a small unit with only two or three staff into a full-fledged data protection institution.
Olatunji said, “When we started this commission, we had a seed in our hands which we planted and we worked hard and we nurtured. It grew and has grown to what we are doing today.”

He recalled that the commission faced funding difficulties in its early years, adding that it worked towards establishing a national law on data protection, which eventually led to the enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act in 2023.

Meanwhile, Olatunji said the commission had recorded significant growth since the law was enacted, with other countries visiting Nigeria to learn from its data protection practices.