The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) has said the priority of the organization is to ensure organizations comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation and not necessarily for the sake of sanctions.
The National Commissioner of NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, who disclosed this during a working visit to the Managing Director of the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT), Dr. Abimbola Alale and her management team at the Space Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja, said he wants a situation, where organisations make it a culture and compliance by default.
“The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau is not out for sanctions but rather encourages organizations to comply with the provisions of the NDPR and make it a culture by default,” he said.
He added that the Bureau is out to create awareness on data protection for all data processors and data controllers to adopt and see as a norm so that the global community will see Nigeria as being serious when it comes to issuing data privacy and protection.
Emphasizing the importance of the awareness being created by the Bureau, Dr. Vincent noted that data subjects need to know their rights in terms of consent, security, storage and cross-border transfer of their data while at the same time enlightening data controllers on their obligations to data subjects.
“It is highly important that those in charge of data processing in organizations are sound enough to know what to do, how to do and the kind of measures they need to put in place in terms of organizational and technical measures to ensure the safety of data of their subjects,” he explained.
He then gave assurances of the Bureau’s support in terms of training, peer reviews and guidelines to NIGCOMSAT and urged them to comply with the provisions of the NDPR by annually filing their audit reports with NDPB.
Dr. Alale in her remark applauded the National Commissioner and his team for their proactive initiatives in ensuring the security of data in the country.
Affirming her support to the Bureau, Alale stated that NIGCOMSAT is already working on their data privacy audit report for the year which will be filed with the Bureau and promised to share the guidelines with their partners who in turn can be independently monitored by the Bureau.
“As we push forward the digital agenda of Nigeria, we should support one another and we at NIGCOMSAT pledge our support to you,” she said.
