In order to advance the nation’s objective for digital transformation, the Association of Licensed Data Protection Organizations of Nigeria (ALDAPCON) has argued that a primary data protection legislative statute must be implemented.
In a press conference, the Association’s chairman, Mr. Ivan Anya, stated that the Data Protection bill, if approved into law, will resolve Nigerians’ concerns about data privacy and confidentiality, facilitate effective dataflow, and spur economic growth in the nation.
He claimed that this would greatly clarify the responsibilities of both data controllers and data processors.
Since the beginning of our work in the industry, we have encountered a great deal of resistance. Some of them are still present, and some are still waiting for secretariat regulators to advise them on the best course of action because they are unable to see the benefits of ensuring compliance on their own.
We also have the problem of technicalities, which is common in the ecosystem, interfaces, and situations where data belonging to Nigerians is hosted outside of the nation. You must access to confirm that the host or location where data on Nigerians is hosted complies fully with the Nigerian data protection regulation.
“The main phrase that would have been of major concern is the element of the law, and we are confident that once the data protection bill is approved, it will be paid to a great deal of the administrative and technological problems we had in terms of compliance.
The beneficial, trusted use of personal data would help mitigate issues on data leakage, and ensure confidentiality and privacy of data, according to him. “The bill is expected to contribute to the legal foundations of Nigeria’s digital economy and its participation in the regional and global economies,” he said.
Speaking about the association’s goals, Mr. Anya stated that Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs), which fall under the umbrella organization ALDAPCON and serve as the nation’s privacy overseers, are focused on promoting data compliance in the industry. This includes giving government, private, and public organizations in Nigeria reliable and authoritative data protection advice.
We are currently in the second year since our founding, and we have been collaborating with the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) to support the principles that ought to direct Nigeria’s data protection practices.
The data protection compliance model is the only one of its kind in the world, and we currently do what no other nation does. It is known as the Public Private Partnership, or PPP arrangement, where the supervising body, in this case the NDPB, has delegated some of its responsibilities to the DPCOS, who will then have to visit business organizations to help them become more compliant.
According to him, the group is promoting awareness of the value of data protection, cyber security, and data provision, as well as of data protection law and regulation in Nigeria.
Furthermore, he added, “be the body of information for data subjects on the Nigerian Data Protection legislation and its execution and Work with stakeholders to influence and its impact data protection in Nigeria.”
He continued by saying that ALDAPCON also offers data protection certification trainings, as well as implementation and the fixing of any holes discovered during an audit assessment of an organization’s compliance with data protection laws or regulations.
Making sure that firms are always fully compliant with the legislation’ standards and assessing areas of default
Speaking in response to the most recent memo from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) requiring Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to abide with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR),
The Chairman praised the government’s initiative, saying it will ensure that Nigerian data is properly protected because government agencies control the majority of the nation’s data. The Chairman also discussed practical ways to encourage compliance and implementation in Nigeria, particularly in government agencies.
He stated that the data privacy sector had made significant progress, with returns between 2020 and 2021 showing an improvement of about 68%. We have not yet evaluated the non-compliance or non-conformity aspect, but we are optimistic that by the time the 2022 report is released early in the data privacy week of 2023, we will know for sure what has changed.
He continued by saying that the need assessment audit report for 2021, which was published early this year, demonstrates that there has been a notable improvement in terms of compliance within the fintech sector.
The Association is defining standards to direct industry compliance, building ecosystem capacity, and most critically, raising knowledge of how to help the ecosystem comply with regulatory requirements, according to Mr. Abdullaziz Ari, the organization’s secretary.
“Well, for the time being, we try to concentrate mostly on the public and private sectors, but as I stated, the memo that has just been released will close the gap in the public sector.
He said, “But with this memo, the private sector has been highly compliant in terms of reacting to compliance.”
