The Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, Senator Afolabi Salisu (APC–Ogun), says efforts are underway to review the National Data Protection Act (2023) to address emerging threats associated with technological advancement.
Salisu made this known in Abuja at the opening of a three-day workshop, on Data Protection Awareness Promotion organised for the Joint National Assembly Committee on ICT by Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and Ampersand Development Partners.
He said that “since the enactment of the Act in 2023, there have been new developments such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the United Nations Convention on Cyber Crimes.”
The lawmaker said that “there is a nexus between data governance and cyber crimes hence the need to look at the Act and strengthen the handshakes where necessary.”
Data Governance
According to him, “we need to ensure the security of our country, particularly in the cyber space and our data governance as well as technology advancement like AI.”
“As legislators, we need to have knowledge on data privacy and protection for us to be able to effectively legislate in that area.
“You cannot legislate in an area that you are not sufficiently knowledgeable in; this workshop affords us the opportunity to build our capacity to understand modern principles of data protection and to be in position to review the National Data Protection Act
“It has been three years down the line, how has this law addressed the need of the nation, particularly given the emerging technologies and how it compares with other other countries.
“At the end of this exercise, we would be able to come up with a roadmap, a timeline, with a view to review the National Data Protection Act,” he said.
The lawmaker tasked all Nigerians on private data protection saying that it is the duty of all citizens to ensure safety of their data.
He said that many free public WiFi and Apps are not always free as users pay with their data and adverts without knowing it.
Nigeria’s Next Prosperity
Also speaking, the Chairman, House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, Mr. Stanley Olajide (APC- Oyo) said that data is gold and Nigeria’s next prosperity was not going to be oil but data.
He said that “no investor would bring foreign funds or capital into Nigeria, without making sure that the right data protection law is in place, which Nigeria has.’
“Whatever data that we have is our sovereign wealth, is something that belongs to us. How do we protect it? We have to make sure that the right legal frameworks are put in place, so that those data, once bridged, you can actually hold entities, corporation, the countries responsible when they’ breach your data law.
“In the U.S., they have their data law; if you put anything in their cloud, is owned by the United States. So we also have to have something here,” he explained.
Olajide added that anything that resides in Nigeria and is generated in Nigeria must be home and protected by the country to ensure being in the right laws and have the right framework in place.
