Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has said that the Agency will continue to lay down necessary structures to deepen data protection implementation in Nigeria even as it awaits the passage of the Data Protection Bill before the National Assembly.
Speaking at a virtual press conference on Monday as part of the activities marking the 2021 National Privacy Week, Abdullahi said some of the Agency’s visions for the year 2021 include the development of sectorial implementation toolkits which objective is to get sector stakeholders to agree on a single, workable template for compliance in their sector.
The Agency also intends to standardize the National Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) courses and trainings by engaging vigorous and experienced Nigerian-based institutions that would help standardize and accredit data protection and information security training and certification.
“We hope to develop a multi-billion naira sector that would create thousands of jobs for trainers, content providers and other professionals.
“We are also going to rejig our enforcement mechanism to improve compliance. COVID-19 slowed down our enforcement vision in 2020, but we are going to redouble our efforts in this direction as data protection has become a pivot for the continued growth of the digital economy,” Abdullahi said.
The NITDA DG noted that like every other noble task, the implementation of the NDPR has been faced with some challenges, stating for instance, that its publicity and awareness still needs more improvement, pledging to work more with the media to upscale NITDA’s efforts.
“Another issue is capacity. While we have a few very dedicated staff, we still need a lot of capacity development and cross-breeding of ideas. We hope to get more partnership and support this year in order to fill this gap.
“Enforcement is another sour point. Our current efforts at enforcement are salutary but not nearly enough. We are considering all options to ensure we do not kill businesses, while also ensuring businesses do not kill Nigerians through wanton abuse of their data,” he said.
Abdullahi reminded all data controllers and processors that the deadline for the filing of their annual data audit report is 15th March 2021, warning that non-filing is a punishable offence that NITDA is set to fully enforce this year.
The NITDA DG ended his address by presenting the official kits for the 2021 Privacy Week, with the NITDA logo and brand assets and that of its partners and sponsors beautifully embossed on them.
He stated that the sanctions are neither for making money nor aimed at stifling the business environment but about creating trust and awareness to ensure stakeholders see the need to comply.
The NITDA DG noted that blacklisting is not good for a company’s image because it could lead to loss of customers, adding that no one would like to do business with any company whose data is insecure.