Nigeria: Africa’s Data Privacy Hub – NADPA Conference Signals Investor Confidence

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) says being awarded the hosting right of the Network of African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA) conference indicates the international community’s confidence in Nigeria’s digital space.

Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner, NDPC, said this on Saturday in Abuja during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), while giving insight into the upcoming 8th edition of the NADPA conference in Abuja.

The conference and annual general meeting are scheduled tobe heldd from May 6 to 8, with the theme: “Balancing Innovation in Africa: Data Protection and Privacy in Emerging Technologies.’’

Data privacy and protection are a raft of measures taken to safeguard an individual’s personal information and ensure that it safe hhandled acaccessednd use safelyd.

Olatunji said Nigeria had made progress since the beginning of its data protection journey in Nigeria in 2019,withs the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) to the signing of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) in 2023.

He said the Act had given the  Nigerian data protection ecosystem more global credence, including the hosting right for the NADPA conference.

“When President Bola Tinubu signed the Data Protection Bill into law, that was a turning point for us in the data privacy ecosystem in Nigeria.

“We have a lot of activities that we have put in place, in terms of awareness, capacity building, situating privacy as the mainstream economy in our digital economy.

“We now have global recognition such that development partners, the Global Privacy Assembly, World Bank, NADPA, ECOWAS are working with us.

“With Nigeria hosting the NADPA conference, we are going to showcase that Nigeria is ready for digital business. When you bring your business here, you will be assured that your data is secure.

“It is a way of creating confidence for investors, for business people to come and do business in Nigeria,’’ Olatunji said.

He said with the  xpected average number of 1000 delegates from 30 African countries, Europe, U.the S., and Asia, the conference would promote tourism, culture, and impact the nation’s economyin  many ways.

The NDPC boss said the meeting would also repose confidence in the minds of Nigerians that the government was ready to protect their data privacy.

“It will promote global competitiveness of our businesses because if you don’t have a cross-border data protection law, or a data protection authority, a lot of companies see your country as not serious.

“The conference will promote our business interest in Nigeria and outside the country and bring the world to see what we are doing with our data protection and privacy,’’ he said. The commission had adopted the Public-Private Partnership model in enforcing data protection in the country.

He said the approach was not only proving to be effective by also creating jobs in the ecosystem and deepening data privacy awareness. (NAN)