The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau is engaging stakeholders to ensure the establishment of the data protection law.
The National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, said that a draft copy of the data protection bill had been released on its website as well as the website of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy for a review by the public.
He said this during a National Validation Workshop on the draft National Data Protection Bill in Abuja.
In an earlier statement by the Communications Manager, Nigeria Digital Identification for Development project, Dr Walter Duru, it was said that the NDPB planned to engage 500 stakeholders to review the draft Nigeria Data Protection Bill before it is sent to the National Assembly.
The Project Coordinator, Nigeria Digital ID4D project, Solomon Odole, also pledged the continued support of the Nigeria Digital ID4D project to efforts towards enacting a data protection law for Nigeria.
It wasearlier reported that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), rejected the data protection bill in 2019 due to concerns from stakeholders.
During the validation workshop, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, stressed the need to have principal legislations in place in order to ensure the safety, privacy and confidentiality of data in Nigeria.
He added that the ministry was working hard with critical stakeholders to ensure the country’s principal legislation was established before the end of the year.
He said, “There is a need to have principal legislation in place in order to ensure safety, privacy and confidentiality of data.
“The Bill will be transmitted to the Federal Executive Council for deliberation and, if approved by FEC, will be transmitted to the National Assembly by the President to enable them to Kickstart the process of legislation before the end of December 2022.
