The minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami has reminded the public that it is a criminal offence to access data in Nigeria without permission.
The minister said this is why the ministry is working hard with critical stakeholders to bequeath the country a principal legislation before the end of this year.
He was speaking at a National Validation Workshop on the draft National Data Protection Bill held on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the bill would be transmitted to the Federal Executive Council for deliberation and if approved by Federal Executive Council would then be transmitted to the National Assembly by the President to enable them kick start the process of legislation before the commencement of general elections next year.
“There is need to have a principal legislation in place, in order to ensure safety, privacy and confidentiality of data.
“The Bill will be transmitted to the Federal Executive Council for deliberation and if approved by FEC, will be transmitted to the National Assembly by the President to enable them Kickstart the process of legislation before end of December, 2022.
“The reason for having the legislation is to ensure that there is no vacuum. In order to ensure confidentiality, privacy and security of our citizens’ data, we commenced the process of having a principal legislation in Nigeria Data Protection law.
“The ministry is working hard with critical stakeholders to bequeath a befitting principal legislation for Data Protection before end of the year.”
The minister admitted that there are existing legislations, but stressed that the country requires a principal legislation to guarantee the safety and privacy of individual and corporate organizations.
Pantami said that the workshop was necessary to collate stakeholders’ input for inclusive and rancour-free legislation.
“The Bill is very important and without a legislation on it will not make much impact. It is a sector that has unlimited space to be utilized to grow the economy.
“Enacting the National Data Protection law is in the process, this process commenced in January 2019, when we came up with a Nigeria legislation.
“We realized the need to have a full-fledged law which is a principal legislation which will go as an executive bill in order to accommodate all the areas that is not backed by full legislation.
“The process was initially coordinated by NIMC but President Muhammadu Buhari later approved a full-blown agency NDPB.
“The data being generated today is mind-boggling, and because of the huge data being generated, we must have a legislation in place to ensure that there is confidentiality and privacy of that data so that the data will not be abused.
“The first industrial revolution was about data generation, citizens submit their data to government or private institutions, some countries commercialize data and that is why we are very proactive in Nigeria in order to ensure that there is no vacuum,
“We came up with the Nigeria Data Protection regulation and relying on our regulatory powers, immediately commenced enforcement because a subsidiary legislation is considered a law up to the Supreme Court.
“The reason for having the legislation is to ensure that there is no vacuum. In order to ensure confidentiality, privacy and security of our citizens data, we commenced the process of having a principal legislation in Nigeria Data Protection law.
“In the 4th industrial revolution, data is key, the quantity of data generated in Nigeria in the last three years increased by 202 per cent. The whole quantity of data generated globally within three years approximately was 5 exabyte. In 48 hours, the quantity of data generated globally is equated to the quantity of data that was generated within a period of 5000 years.
“By 2025, because of the Internet of Things, it is going to be exponential growth of data. Today the data being generated in Nigeria is in terabyte and there must be a legislation in place to ensure that this data being generated is confidential, secured and private.
“The 1999 Constitution specifically states that citizens’ correspondences and communication must be private and confidential and the Section 37 of the constitution, data protection was clearly mentioned except under the cybercrime 2015 where there is a provision of Lawful Intercept where security agencies establish a prima facie case before intercepting certain communication.”
