The financial sector has led in the Nigeria data privacy rating with 41% compliance.
Consultancy comes second with 9.2%. ICT and digital media 8.8% while manufacturing follows with 7.9%.
Speaking at the Data Privacy Week 2022 press conference and unveiling of the weeks activities, director- general of NITDA Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi added that Nigeria measures in data protection are in tune with the emerging norms on data privacy in the international community.
“NITDA issued the extant Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2019. The success stories of the digital economy would have been tainted by horrendous abuses, if citizens who are the sole agents of socio-economic transactions are left without legal protection. Thus, as we celebrate Data Privacy week in this New Year, we must render our stewardship in data protection.
The first thing we must emphasise in this regard is that data privacy is not a mere cliché for describing freedom from an embarrassing intrusion into what an individual does not wish to share with the public. Properly speaking, it is a technical concept that encompasses the safeguards for the dignity of human person, the safety of lives and livelihoods and the socio-economic integrity of a sovereign state in the frontiers of digital civilisation.
The NDPR has made a landmark impact on data privacy in Nigeria. Significantly, NDPR has broadened citizen’s right to privacy as enshrined in Section 37, Part 4, 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Courts of competent jurisdiction have taken judicial notice of this phenomenal impact. A classic example is the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of: Incorporated Trustees of Digital Lawyers Initiative & Ors. V. National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) CA/ IB/291/2020. We must note that the administration of justice regarding data privacy is a critical index in assessing the adequacy level of a country; with this landmark decision, Nigeria has earned herself a pride of place in the frontiers of fundamental rights.
