The Nigerian government has said it is not comfortable with Whatsapp updated privacy and has directed the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA to engage Facebook, the parent company of the messaging app.
In a statement signed by Dr. Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, the government noted that the outdated policy will allow WhatsApp will share information about the users on their platform with their parent company (Facebook), as well as other Facebook companies.
The information includes user phone numbers, “transaction data, service-related information, information on how you interact with others (including businesses) when using our Services, mobile device information, your IP address”.
“The Honourable Minister has therefore directed the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as the Regulator of the Information Technology sector, to engage vigorously with Facebook to understand the processes, level of security, etc of the data of Nigerian users in order to ensure that Policies proposed for Nigeria strictly adhere to the provisions of NDPR,” the statement said.
The statement also assured Nigerians that the Federal Government will give uttermost attention to the privacy of their data, in line with the NDPR and the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.
The Federal Government released the Nigeria Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) in 2019 and is committed to upholding the data privacy of Nigerians. We are also aware that the European region is exempt from the provisions of the updated Policy and it is also being challenged in a number of countries.