By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday signed the Nigeria Data Protection Bill 2023 into law.
Now known as the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, it will provide a legal framework for the protection of personal information and the practice of data protection in Nigeria.
The National Commissioner for Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), Mr Vincent Olatunji, confirmed the development at the NDPD Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan(SRAP) validation workshop in Abuja.
The bill was introduced to the Senate and House of Representatives for consideration and passage on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, via a letter from former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The new law establishes the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and replaces the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) established by Mr Buhari in February 2022.
The commission will be led by a National Commissioner with the responsibility for regulating the processing of personal information.
Understanding the Act
The central objective of the act is to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms and the interests of data subjects, as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Some of the key provisions of the act include the regulation and processing of personal data, promoting data processing practices that safeguard the security of personal data and the privacy of data subjects, and ensuring that personal data is processed in a fair, lawful and accountable manner.
Other core functions are protecting data subjects’ rights as well as providing means of recourse and remedies in the event of breaches; ensuring that data controllers and data processors fulfil their obligations to data subjects; establishing an impartial, independent and effective regulatory commission to superintend over data protection and privacy issues and supervise data controllers and data processors; strengthening the legal foundations of the national digital economy to guarantee the participation of Nigeria in the regional and global economies through the beneficial trusted use of personal data.
