The President, Bola Tinubu signed the Data Protection Bill into law on Monday 12th June 2023, the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau has disclosed.
According to the bureau, about 500,000 jobs are expected to be created through the training of Data Protection Officers and licensing of Data Protection Compliance Organisations to offer services to data controllers and processors.
It noted that the new act is one of the strategic ways of meeting the campaign promise of Tinubu to create one million jobs in the digital economy sector. This was contained in a statement signed by the Head, Legal Enforcement and Regulations, NDPB, Babatunde Bamigboye.
The National Commissioner, NDPB, Dr Vincent Olatunji, stated that the act will advance the privacy rights and other fundamental freedoms of Nigerians both in cyberspace and in analog transactions.
The statement read in part, “Nigeria has taken a giant leap forward in the global data race with the assent to Nigeria Data Protection Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Act was signed on the 12th of June 2023.
“The NDPB, pursuant to the express provisions of the new act, has transmitted into a full-fledged commission and it is mandated to among others: Regulate the deployment of technological and organisational measures to enhance personal data protection.
“Foster the development of personal data protection technologies, in accordance with recognised international best practices and applicable international law; conduct investigations into any violation of a requirement under the Act; impose penalties in respect of any violation of the provisions of the Act or subsidiary legislation made thereof.
Where necessary, accredit, license, and register suitable persons to provide data protection compliance services; issue regulations, rules, directives, and guidance under the Act; and register data controllers and data processors of major importance.”