The National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, participated actively at the 2026 edition of the Annual General Meeting of the Network of Africa Data Protection Authorities (NADPA-RAPDP) held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with about twenty-one (21) African countries in attendance.

During the meeting, Dr Olatunji, on behalf of Nigeria, appreciated the Board and the Permanent Secretariat for steering the Network forward over the past 10 years. He noted the need for the NADPA-RAPDP to intensify efforts on awareness and capacity building across the continent, adopt strategic collaborative mechanisms, and identify key priority areas of focus to ensure it achieves significant progress in unification and harmonisation.

At the meeting, Nigeria, as the Chair of the Regulatory Harmonisation Working Group, presented its report to the Board. Also, elections were conducted leading to the constitution of a new board. The election produced Mr Faustino Varela Monteiro, the Head of the Cape Verde Data Protection Authority (DPA), as the President; Ms Patricia, the Head of the Côte d’Ivoire DPA, as the first Vice President; and Ms Tsi Tsi Mariwo, the Head of Zimbabwe DPA, as the second Vice President.

Nations present at the meeting included Angola, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Chad, Eswatini, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe won the hosting rights for the next NADPA-RAPDP Conference and AGM.