Is Nigeria ready to protect the data of it’s Citizens?
The National information Technology and development Agency (NITDA) on 25 january,2019 released five information technology, IT, Guidelines and regulatory frameworks to guide the deployment of IT, data harnessing and protection, social media usage in government ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, to aiding the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
They guidelines include: The Rulemaking Process Regulation of NITDA, Nigerian Data Protection Regulation, Guideline for IT Clearance, Guidelines for Public Internet Access and Framework for Use of Social Media in Public Institutions.
We are more interested in the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation as the protection of data has been a major challenge in Nigeria.
The Objective of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation .
The objective is to:
- Safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy.
- Foster safe conduct of transactions involving the exchange of personal data
- Prevent manipulation of personal data.
- Ensure that Nigerian businesses remain competitive in international trade; through the safeguards afforded by a just and equitable legal regulatory framework on data protection and which regulatory framework is in tune with global best practices.
Nigeria is known to have best practices in the aspect of policies and regulations been put in place. The major challenge is the implementation of policies and regulations.
Will the Nigeria Protection Regulation be strictly adhered to, Does NITDA have the capability to monitor the implementation of this regulations?
How will NITDA evaluate the compliance of this regulations?
This questions will be kept in our minds.
We are hoping for some improvement with Data with the new Regulations.
Read more on the Comprehensive Data protection Regulations here
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Nigeria data protection regulation, a step towards data protection in Nigeria