This was disclosed in a statement issued by Nigeria Data
Protection Bureau’s Head, Legal, Enforcement & Regulations, Babatunde
Bamigboye, on Wednesday in Abuja.
“…By virtue of this historic approval, the Bill will now be
transmitted to the National Assembly as an Executive Bill through the office of
the Hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation,” the
statement said.
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of the
Nigeria Data Protection Bureau last February to ensure compliance with the
Nigeria Data Protection Regulation.
The approval of the bill was made following a request by the
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami.
According to the statement, the Bureau was mandated to,
inter alia, implement the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and
coordinate the passage of an enabling act for data protection.
Core objectives
The statement noted that the central objective of the bill
is to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms and the interests of data
subjects, as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
It said some of the key provisions of the bill include the
regulation and processing of personal data; promoting data processing practices
that safeguard the security of personal data and privacy of data subjects; and
ensuring that personal data is processed in a fair, lawful and accountable
manner.
Other core functions are protecting data subjects’ rights as
well as providing means of recourse and remedies in the event of breaches;
ensuring that data controllers and data processors fulfil their obligations to
data subjects; establishing an impartial, independent and effective regulatory
Commission to superintend over data protection and privacy issues and supervise
data controllers and data processors; strengthening the legal foundations of
the national digital economy to guarantee the participation of Nigeria in the
regional and global economies through the beneficial trusted use of personal
data.
Commenting on the bill, NDPB’s National Commissioner and
CEO, Vincent Olatunji, urged all stakeholders to cooperate with the government
in ensuring the sustainability of the abundant opportunities in Nigeria’s
digital economy.
“With the full support demonstrated by the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari, a clear signal has been sent to the global data
processing ecosystem that Nigeria is committed to safeguarding fundamental
rights and freedoms of Nigerian citizens which may be impacted one way or the
other by the activities of data controllers and data processors,” he added.
0 comments:
Post a Comment