By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) has formally presented the draft of the National Data Protection Bill, which will seek to protect Nigerians online.
Mr Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner of the bureau, presented it to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, for onward transmission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for its approval.
This was disclosed by the External Communications Manager of Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (NDID4D), Mr Mouktar Adamu, in a statement.
Mr Adamu said that the bill, which was drafted following a series of stakeholder engagements in a National Policy Dialogue, marked the end of the 3-month process of seeking stakeholder input.
He said that the draft was validated by stakeholders and uploaded on the NDPB website: ‘www.ndpb.gov.ng’, for public scrutiny, contributions and comments within one week.
Receiving copies of the draft bill, Mr Pantami directed that it should be handed over alongside a covering memorandum to his team for review.
The minister assured the Commissioner and the Coordinator of the NDID4D that due diligence would be done on the bill to ensure its speedy passage by the National Assembly and eventual assent by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“With the recent assent to the recent start-up bill by the president, we are confident of the speedy passage of this bill by the National Assembly, with whom we have enjoyed a robust working relationship, ” Mr Pantami said.
At the workshop, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT, Ibrahim Oseni, pledged that the committee would do the needful by passing the bill once it was presented before the legislature.
When promulgated, the law would seek to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“This would be in addition to contributing to the legal foundations of the digital economy of Nigeria and its participation in the regional and global economies through the beneficial, trusted use of personal data,” he said.
The NDID4D Project emphasised in the statement that it is also supporting the process.
Modupe Gbadeyanka