The National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, was represented by the Manager of the Commission’s Lagos Office, Ms Omoikhefe Ahimie, at the fourth annual edition of PrivCon held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Delivering a goodwill message, Ms Ahimie commended PrivCon as a valuable platform for industry leaders and professionals to exchange perspectives on the evolving realities of privacy, compliance and data protection in Nigeria. She emphasised that, just as every component of a building matters, every aspect of privacy must be deliberately built into systems, decisions and interactions, noting that privacy must remain at the heart of Nigeria’s growing digital economy.

The Head of the Commission’s Regulations Unit, Mrs Ibukunoluwa Owa, participated in a panel session titled, “I Am Just a Baby: Children’s Privacy, Online Safety and Sundry Issues.” During the session, Mrs Owa underscored the risks associated with the misuse of children’s personal data and called for heightened safeguards, accessible and effective reporting and redress mechanisms, and widespread privacy awareness among children, parents and educators.

Ms Owa highlighted the Commission’s recent investigative and compliance activities enforcing the statutory duty of care under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), emphasising that platforms have a responsibility to ensure safe and privacy-conscious processing environments for children.

Concluding her remarks, Mrs Owa outlined the Commission’s recent initiatives to advance child online protection, including the recent survey conducted, stakeholder engagement with parents and educators, as well as the Adopt-a-School initiative.