The National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, paid a courtesy visit to the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Salisu Garba Abdullahi.
Dr Olatunji thanked Justice Abdullahi for the warm reception extended to him and the NDPC team. He gave a brief insight into the establishment of the NDPC, which followed the signing of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act) into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on June 12, 2023. He also took the opportunity to explain the consequences of non-compliance with the NDP Act, particularly failure to safeguard personal data.
Dr. Olatunji highlighted the pillars of the NDPC’s strategic roadmap and stressed the importance of collaboration in raising awareness of data protection and privacy within the judicial arm of government. He also noted that capacity building was essential to enable judges to properly handle cases related to data protection and privacy that come before their courts. To facilitate this, Dr. Olatunji offered free training to the NJI on data protection and privacy.
In response, Justice Abdullahi commended the NDPC, under the leadership of Dr. Olatunji, for its remarkable achievements since its establishment. He pledged to work with the NDPC to raise awareness of data protection and privacy in the judiciary and accepted the NDPC’s proposal to train NJI fellows, ICT staff, and judges. He added that the NDPC will be invited in their coming workshops to speak with them about data protection and privacy.
A working group between the two organizations was therefore established to oversee the proposed collaboration.
