The National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, led staff of the Commission on a strategic working visit to the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr Aminu Yusuf, at the NPC Headquarters in Abuja.

In his speech, Dr Olatunji commended Dr Yusuf for his leadership of the NPC and reiterated the strategic importance of the NPC to Nigeria as the holder of the largest volume of personal information on Nigerians. He applauded the NPC for digitising its processes, noting that technical and organisational measures must be put in place to safeguard the personal information of Nigerians in the NPC’s database. He stated that it is important for the two Commissions to work together to improve trust, confidence and credibility in NPC’s data processing activities.

Highlighting some of the benefits of compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as the consequences of non-compliance, Dr Olatunji walked the NPC team through the evolution of data protection and privacy in Nigeria and enlightened them on the steps towards compliance with the NDP Act. On behalf of the NDPC, he offered free induction training and 100 Virtual Privacy Academy (VPA) vouchers to staff of the NPC.

In his response, Dr Yusuf commended Dr Olatunji for his proactive approach to data protection and privacy in Nigeria, stating that the visit was interactive, informative and educative. He added that data is life and that the NDPC is a major stakeholder that will add value to what they do at the NPC. He thanked the NDPC for the offers and assured Dr Olarunji of the NPC’s readiness to deepen data protection and privacy in its operations across the 774 Local Government Area offices, as well as the 36 state offices and the FCT.

A technical working group was formed to advance the relationship between the NDPC and the NPC by developing actionable plans, including the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).