The Data Protection Bill was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
This was said in a statement that Babatunde Bamigboye, the Director of Legal Enforcement and Regulations at the Nigerian Data Protection Bureau, signed.
Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner for the NDPB, expressed confidence over the potential for Nigeria's digital economy in light of the new regulatory environment.
He commended the president for giving more than 200 million Nigerians hope again for the progress of privacy rights and other fundamental freedoms in both digital and analog interactions.
The statement read in part, “Nigeria has taken a giant leap forward in the global data race with the assent to Nigeria Data Protection Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Act was signed on the 12th of June 2023.
“The NDPB, pursuant to the express provisions of the new act, has transmuted into a full-fledged commission and it is mandated to among others:
(a) regulate the deployment of technological and organizational measures to enhance personal data protection;
(b) foster the development of personal data protection technologies, in accordance with recognised international best practices and applicable international law;
conduct investigations into any violation of a requirement under the Act;
(c) impose penalties in respect of any violation of the provisions of the Act or subsidiary legislation made thereof;
(d) where necessary, accredit, license, and register suitable persons to provide data protection compliance services;
(e) issue regulations, rules, directives and guidance under the Act; and
(f) register data controllers and data processors of major importance.â€
The bureau also revealed that the action is one of the calculated ways the president is making good on his promise to generate 1 million jobs in the field of the digital economy.
The licensing of data protection compliance organizations and the training of data protection officers to provide services to data controllers and processors are estimated to result in the creation of some 500,000 employment.