Nigeria Has over 500,000 Verified Data Protection Officers – NDPC
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) reports that there are over 500,000 verified Data Protection Officers (DPOs) in the country. However, fewer than 10,000 of them possess the necessary skills for data protection.
Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner of NDPC, shared this information in an interview during a working visit to the Data and Knowledge Information Privacy Protection Initiative (DKIPPI) in Lagos on Friday.
He added that out of the 10,000 skilled data protection professionals in the country, less than 5,000 hold certifications.
Olatunji emphasized the Commission’s commitment to building a proficient and certified pool of data protection professionals.
“We want to create jobs for people and the jobs are there, but if, we do not have the skills and how do we secure the jobs?
He mentioned that to bridge this certification gap, they were collaborating with the Data and Knowledge Information Privacy Protection Initiative (DKIPPI) to train Data Protection Officers (DPOs). The training, he explained, would be conducted by DKIPPI to prepare DPOs for their certification exams.
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He further stated that DKIPPI would handle the training for exam candidates, while the Institute of Information Management (IIM) would administer the examination, with certification endorsed by NDPC.
“The Institute of Information Management (IIM) came up as a NDPC Public/Private Partnership Project to add value to what the commission is doing.
“In other climes and looking at the issues around certification, most of those certified today have international certification which they obtained by paying in dollars for the training and to write the examination.
“Do we want to continue to have international certification and how many people can afford that?
“This is why we came up with the idea of licensing a national certification body of international standard that can certify Nigeria Data Protection professionals,’’ he said.
He mentioned that the certification body is among the world’s finest, and after thorough evaluation, the Institute of Information Management emerged as the preferred choice due to its esteemed reputation, extensive experience, and presence across seven countries.
Expressing gratitude to DKIPPI, the national commissioner acknowledged Mr. Tokunbo Smith, President of DKIPPI, for his dedicated contributions to NDPC’s mission.
Olatunji commended Smith for investing his personal resources, time, and effort to advance the commission’s objectives, including raising awareness and providing training on data protection in various sectors such as churches, markets, and schools.
NAN/Chidimma Gold
