Newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Nigeria Data Protection Bill, 2023 into law. The Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 provides a legal framework for the protection of personal information.
Moreover, it will offer guidance on the practice of data protection in Nigeria. Since, Europe’s GDPR was enacted into law on 5 May 2018, the world has followed with data protection laws. For example, Kenya followed swiftly with the Data Protection Act 2019.
Timeline of The Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023
On the 25th of January 2019 Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim as the Director General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) signed the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 as a subsidiary legislation.
Thereafter, former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of the Nigeria Data Protection bureau. This was done on the recommendation of Prof. Ibrahim.
The Nigeria Data Protection Bill (NDPB) was approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC). FEC approved the bill in January 2023 after presentation by Prof. Ibrahim.
After this process, the Nigeria Data Protection Bill (NDPB) was transmitted to the Senate as an executive bill. This was done in April of 2023.
Finally, as one of his first executive action, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the bill into law on the 14th of June 2023.
Tanzania Data Protection Commission in Kenya for Study
In the past few days, officials from Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Commission have been in Kenya. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has hosted the Tanzanian delegation who are in Kenya for a study tour.
The four-day study tour is aimed at enhancing knowledge sharing on data protection concerns for both countries. Notably, the two countries Data Protection Acts are currently under initial stages of implementation.
Hence, the teams have been exchanging ideas on the diverse operating ideas.
Additionally, the Tanzanian delegation got to learn about Kenya’s organization structure, registration & compliance procedures, and complaints, investigation & enforcement processes.
