As part of efforts to deepen privacy in Nigeria’s education ecosystem, the National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, participated as a panellist at the official launch of the Digitalised Nigeria Education Management Information System (DNEMIS), organised by the Federal Ministry of Education.

Speaking during the panel session titled “Data-driven Education Planning and Management as Components of National Planning,” Dr Olatunji commended the Federal Ministry of Education on the launch of DNEMIS and recommended that strong technical and organisational measures should be put in place to ensure the protection of the personal data of students.

Dr Olatunji specifically highlighted the principles of “Privacy by Design”, which include an appropriate Privacy Policy, encryption, transparency, data minimisation, and end-to-end security, to be incorporated to build the trust of users and provide accurate and secure data for the education sector in Nigeria. He stated that the Commission is ready to support the Ministry’s initiative to conform to global best practices.

During his speech, the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, acknowledged the importance of data protection and privacy, and expressed the Ministry’s readiness to work with the NDPC to ensure compliance on the platform and, by extension, in the education sector. He immediately directed the implementation team to commence engagement with the Commission.

Other panellists included the Statistician-General/CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran; the Director of Educational Planning, Research and Development at the Ministry of Education, Mrs Obianuju Anigbogu; the Chief of Education at UNICEF Nigeria, Vanessa Lee; and the representative of the Country Director of the World Bank, Matthew Verghis.