The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), has sought the partnership of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) for capacity building for VCs and data officers in universities.
This is part of measures to protect the data of students across in Nigerian universities.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Head of Media Unit, NDPC Mr.Itunu Dosekun in Abuja, Nigeria.
Professor Yakubu Ochefu, the Secretary General of CVCNU, who called for a capacity building on data protection for senior officers of Nigerian universities, made the request during a courtesy visit by CVCNU members to Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner/CEO of NDPC, at the commission’s office in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Professor Ochefu, while expressing his delight on the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, stressed the need for CVCNU members be enlightened on Data Protection.
He said, “The fact that the act is coming at this point in time, these are things that as a nation, we should have done years ago, and if Nigerian Universities is going to do things right, then they have to take their rightful place as far as implementing the Act is concerned.
This is a very important agency that we need to engage with, we need to see how we can work together, so that we can help build the capacity of the Universities, to ensure that we are doing the right thing.”
He explained that there are two hundred and sixty-four universities with Vice Chancellors who now have a new responsibility to be Chief Data Protection Officers of the Universities they lead.
“The average VC wears four caps in the University. They serve as the Chief Accounting Officer, Executive Officer, Academic Officer, and Security Officer. I told them that they have a new cap which is now the Chief Data Officer of their university, the VCs immediately saw the value of Data Protection from the way forms are designed in the Universities, handling personal information, posting results on the wall and so on.”
Dominica Nwabufo
