Science & Tech
THE Association of Licensed Data Protection Organisations of Nigeria (ALDAPCON) has advocated a data protection legislation to be put in place in the country.
The Chairman of the association, Mr Ivan Anya said this in a news briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.
Anya said the Data Protection bill, when passed into law would address the data privacy and confidentiality of Nigerians, enable effective data flow and create economic development for the country.
He said this would also enable data processors and data controllers to have significant clarification of duties.
Anya said: “The bill is expected to contribute to the legal foundations of the digital economy of Nigeria.
“Its participation in the regional and global economies through the beneficial, trusted use of personal data will help mitigate issues on data leakage, and ensure confidentiality and privacy of data.”
Speaking on its objectives, Anya said Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) under the umbrella body, ALDAPCON as the privacy overseers in the country, focus on driving data compliance in the industry.
He said that it provided credible and authoritative data protection advisory to public and private organisations in Nigeria.
“We are currently within our second year running since inception and we have been working with the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, (NDPB) in championing what it is that should help guide data protection practice in Nigeria.
“The data protection compliance model is the only one of its type globally and no other country currently practices what we do.
“It is called the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement where the supervising authority in this case will have to go to business organisations to assure them that they are more compliant,” he said.
Anya said the association was helping to create awareness on the importance of Data Protection and cybersecurity as well as the provision of data, protect law and regulation in Nigeria.
He said that ALDAPCON had also provided certification training in data protection as well as the implementation and filling of gaps that may arise in the cause of an audit assessment.
The chairman applauded the government on the recent memorandum issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, directing Ministries, Departments and Agencies to comply with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation.
He said that the initiative by the government would ensure Nigerian data was properly safeguarded as government agencies have the bulk of data in the country.
Anya also said that it would chart effective ways to promote compliance and implementation in Nigeria especially in government agencies.
The Secretary of the association, Mr Abdullaziz Aliyu said that it was coming up with standards to guide the compliance in the industry.
Aliyu said that it would develop capacity within the ecosystem and create awareness on how to assist the ecosystem comply with the requirements of the regulation.
“For now, we try to focus mostly on the public and private sectors as well, but like I said, with the memo that has been out now, it will bridge the gap in the public sector,” he said. (NAN)
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Tags: Abdullaziz Aliyu ALDAPCON Ivan Anya NDPB
