Technology
Nigeria Eyes Multi-Billion Naira Data Privacy Sector
By Adedapo Adesanya
With the latest conversation around data privacy and its enforcement, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is set to develop a multi-billion naira data privacy sector which will strengthen job creation among others in 2021.
This disclosure was made by the agency’s Director-General, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, on Monday in Abuja at the virtual news conference to open the 2021 National Data Privacy Week.
Data Privacy Week is a global event held every last week in January, with this year’s celebration falling between Monday, January 25 and January 28.
Mr Inuwa said that boosting the data privacy sector will be done through the consolidated implementation of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
According to him, the NDPR established on January 25, 2019, by Mr Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, was designed to guide the use of data in public places.
“It will also meet the global principles on data protection, especially the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),’’ the director-general said.
He said that the NDPR recorded huge success between 2019 and 2020, through sustained public awareness, training, workshops for Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) and Data Breach Investigation Team (DBIT).
He said that other achievements were the implementation structure of NDPR that approved licences for DPCOs on data protection implementation, legal and political structure for sustainability.
“In March 2020, NITDA was selected as a member of the Technical Working Group on Data Protection Laws Harmonisation and Localisation in Africa.
“In December 2020, NITDA was appointed as a full member of the Common Thread Network, a network of commonwealth nations’ data protection authorities.
“In 2021, we are working on the development of sectorial implementation toolkits and the objective is to get sector stakeholders to agree on a single, workable template for compliance in their sector.
“We shall engage vigorous and experienced Nigeria-based institutions that will help us standardise and accredit data protection, information security training and certification.
“We hope to develop a multi-billion naira sector that will create thousands of jobs for trainers, content providers and other professionals.
“We are also going to re-jig our enforcement mechanism to improve compliance,” the NITDA boss said.
He further said that data privacy was challenged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis which led to a mental health crisis, thereby impeding compliance and enforcement of the regulation.
“We are going to redouble our efforts in the direction of enforcement and compliance as data protection has become a pivot for the continued growth of the digital economy,” Mr Inuwa said.
He, however, stated that the agency was going to create more awareness on the regulation, further work with the media to upscale its publicity and build the capacity of officers on data protection management in collaboration with stakeholders.
“Our current effort at enforcement is salutary but not nearly enough, we are considering all options to ensure we do not kill businesses while also ensuring businesses do not kill Nigerians through wanton abuse of their data,’’ he said.
Mr Inuwa further called on all data controllers and processors to file their annual data audit report before March 15, 2021.
The NITDA DG emphasised that non-filing of their report was a punishable offence under the NDPR and the agency was set to fully enforce the provision this year.
“Our audit reports for filed entities of 2019-2020 from some DPCOs show compliance level of financial services at 35 per cent, fast-moving consumer goods at 14 per cent and energy at 10 per cent.
“The consultancy sector compliance was at nine per cent, ICT at eight per cent, transport and logistics five per cent and others at 19 per cent.
“With the direction we are moving on NDPR audit compliance filing, we are very glad that we have set out in the right way.
“Our strategy of licensing DPCOs is yielding bounteous fruits as Nigeria now has more data protection experts per capita than any other African country,” the NITDA boss said.
He further said that wealth was generated through the DPCO scheme, hence aligning with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda to diversify the economy, create sustainable jobs and digitally develop the country.
Mr Inuwa also said that strategies to implement the NDPR were helping lawmakers pass a befitting Data Protection Bill.
He outlined activities to mark the week as Privacy Tech Expo, webinars on Privacy and Public Health Management – Lessons from COVID-19 – and National Virtual Class on Data Protection for Secondary Schools.
Other activities he said would include a webinar on National Identification Number (NIN): Preserving Privacy; Promoting the Digital Economy, discussing the issues around the issuance of the National Identity Number and its implications on privacy and the digital economy.
He added that on January 28, Mr Pantami would anchor the Global Privacy Day, National Quiz Competition and a roundtable discussion comprising African Data Protection executives.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An additional $200,000 will be invested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) media literacy initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok announced during its third annual Sub-Saharan Africa Safer Internet Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
The platform hosted government officials, regulators, online safety partners and industry leaders for the event, reinforcing its commitment to collaborative approaches to online safety.
The funds will be provided in ad credits to help support local organisations in the region to expand AI media literacy.
This investment builds on the company’s initial $2 million AI Literacy Fund, launched in November 2025, which awarded 20 global non-profits to create content that boosts public understanding of AI.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok initially supported three organisations to advance digital literacy and combat misinformation.
“With the rapid advancement of AI, we are committed to educating our community online, so they feel empowered to have responsible experiences with AI, whether that’s as viewers or creators.
“We are partnering with trusted local organisations that communities already know and rely on, because their expertise and deep local connections are essential to making AI literacy programs truly impactful,” the Global Head of Partnerships, Elections and Market Integrity at TikTok, Mr Valiant Richey, stated.
Earlier, the Head of Government Relations and Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, Ms Tokunbo Ibrahim, said, “As we host the 3rd Annual Safer Internet Summit here in Kenya, our mission is clear: to share learnings, insights, tackle common challenges and collaboratively advance actionable solutions that protect citizens online.
“By bringing together a diverse coalition of policymakers, tech innovators, and creators, we are ensuring that the conversations we have at this Summit are all-inclusive and lead to a more resilient digital landscape.”
The summit featured expert panels and discussions on critical topics, including TikTok’s Trust and Safety efforts, protecting young people online, and policy frameworks for responsible AI governance.
A key highlight of the event was showcasing how TikTok uses AI to transform how people share their creativity and discover new passions, while ensuring the community remains safe through transparent and responsible AI practices.
The platform also shared more about how recent advancements in AI are helping the platform moderate content faster and more consistently at scale, by improving automated moderation and empowering human teams with better moderation tools.
With over 100 million pieces of content uploaded daily to TikTok, these advances, which work alongside human moderation teams, are helping get violative content down faster, reducing the likelihood of the community seeing it.
According to the latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Q3 2025, TikTok removed over 14 million videos across Sub-Saharan Africa, with 96.7 per cent detected and removed proactively using automated technology, underscoring TikTok’s commitment to proactive moderation and swift action.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The winners of the Technovation 4.0 Hackathon, themed The Wicked Hackathon, organised by Interswitch, have been given N10 million in cash prizes for their efforts.
At the one-day finale event, which took place on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Interswitch Innovation Lab and Co-Working Space, the money was shared among the top teams whose innovative solutions stood out during the rigorous multiple phases of the competition.
Team Quickteller Fashion emerged as the overall winner, securing the grand prize of N4 million for a solution that impressed judges with its originality, practicality, and strong strategic relevance. Team Kampe claimed second position with N2.5 million, while Team Stable placed third, receiving N1.5 million. Up to N300,000 worth of cash prizes were also awarded to the fourth, fifth and sixth qualifying teams.
For nine months, cross-functional teams from across the organisation collaborated to conceptualise, validate, develop, and refine solutions, moving from raw ideas to minimum viable products (MVPs) with ready-to-market potential and deployment across the business.
The atmosphere at the grand finale reflected that of preparation and anticipation as the top 9 teams presented their innovations through live demonstrations and detailed pitches, fielding questions from a distinguished panel of judges before the top three winners were selected. Each presentation highlighted rigorous validation processes, thoughtful market considerations, and a strong emphasis on measurable impact.
While many of the solutions remain confidential due to their strategic relevance, the diversity and depth of ideas showcased during the hackathon’s final underscored the organisation’s growing culture of intrapreneurship and structured innovation. The projects illustrated how technology-driven thinking can unlock efficiencies, strengthen operational capabilities, and open new pathways for growth across the digital payments and commerce ecosystem.
“Technovation continues to reflect who we are as an organisation, bold, forward-thinking, and deeply committed to building impactful solutions from within. Over the years, we have seen ideas conceived during this programme evolve into meaningful capabilities that strengthen our ecosystem.
“The passion, discipline, and ingenuity demonstrated by our teams this year reinforce our belief in the power of African innovation to solve complex challenges and shape the future of technology on the continent,” the Chief Innovation Officer for Interswitch, Ms Adaobi Okerekeocha, stated.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The language support for its AI Search features has been expanded by Google, with the inclusion of Yoruba and Hausa in Nigeria.
This is part of a broader effort to make AI more inclusive across the continent, with support now extending to a total of 13 African languages.
Under the AI Overviews and AI Mode, speakers of both Nigerian languages can utilise AI-powered Search experiences in their mother tongue for quick summaries and conversational exploration.
This means existing AI features in Google Search are now accessible to people like the student in Kano asking a question in Hausa, and the trader in Ibadan seeking advice in Yorùbá.
By addressing language barriers, this update ensures that technology reflects the identity and culture of the people it serves. With this expansion, more people can now use AI Mode to ask complex questions in their preferred language, while exploring the web more deeply and naturally through text or voice.
The 13 languages now supported across Africa include Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, Yorùbá, and isiZulu.
These languages were chosen based on the vibrant search activity across the continent, ensuring that our AI experiences reach the communities that need them most.
Commenting on the development, the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google in West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said, “Building a truly global Search goes far beyond translation — it requires a nuanced understanding of local information.
“With the advanced multimodal and reasoning capabilities of our custom version of Gemini in Search, we’ve made huge strides in language understanding, so our most advanced AI search capabilities are locally relevant and useful in each new language we support.
“This is about ensuring Nigerians can converse with Search in their mother tongues, making information more helpful for everyone.”
To use AI Overviews and AI Mode in the local language, users must open the Google app on an Android or iOS device, or via the Web. They are required to tap on AI Mode within the Search experience. Thereafter, they can type or speak the question in their preferred language, such as Hausa or Yorùbá, and let the AI guide the journey.
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