By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Data Protection Annual Report has revealed that the country’s data protection cumulative revenue in 2023 rose by 12.73 per cent to N6.2 billion from N5.5 billion in 2022.
The report was unveiled at the second-anniversary dinner and awards organised by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) recently in Abuja.
Established on February 4, 2022, the NDPC was mandated to ensure data privacy and protection in the country, and that the rights of citizens are in line with global standards.
The report stated, “Other areas that the rates increased included Compliance Audit Report which recorded 3,451 reports from 2022 to 2023, against 1,864 from 2020 to 2021.
“The sector was able to create 10, 123 jobs in 2023 against 9,577 in 2022 and compliance revenue increased to N325 million against N94.4 billion in 2022.
“The number of verified Data Protection Officers increased from 1, 928 in 2022 to 1,955 in 2023, number of investigations rose from 117 in 2022 to 177 in 2023, among others.”
Mr Babatunde Bamigboye, the Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations of NDPC, described the successes of the commission as most remarkable.
“The NDPA laid the foundation for data privacy and protection in the country, we are putting together the general application and implementation directive for the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA).
“We have also improved on our auditing. So, many organisations are beginning to file audit reports with us and we have been admitted into the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA).
“The court also is beginning to recognise the importance of adequacy in terms of cross-border data transfer and we are happy that the ecosystem is evolving and getting stronger,’’ he said.
He explained that as a member of GPA, the country could get mutual legal assistance on enforcement, capacity building, information sharing and intergovernmental collaboration.
Some other achievements, he added, were the launch of Nigeria Data Protection Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2023 -2027 and commencement of bilateral cooperation with other jurisdictions, issuance of the Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) code of conduct.
Recall that NDPC generated over N400 million in ensuring compliance with data protection and its remedial actions.
The body received over 1000 complaints and after a thorough review, 50 have been verified and investigations are currently ongoing on 17 major cases.
These cases cover several sectors such as finance, technology, education, consulting, government, logistics, and gaming/lottery among others.
In addition to fostering compliance, the NDPC increased the number of DPCOs from 103 to 163.
Modupe Gbadeyanka