The National Commissioner/CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, led a team from the Commission on a strategic working visit to the Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund), Mr Akintunde Sawyerr.

Dr Olatunji commended Mr Sawyerr for his leadership of NELFund, which has benefited about 1.3 million students in Nigeria, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He walked them through the evolution of data protection and privacy in Nigeria, the benefits of compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act), 2023, and the dangers of non-compliance with the provisions of the NDP Act.

He added that NELFund processes the personal information of students who apply for loans and that measures must be put in place to ensure the safety of these personal data. He urged NELFund to sensitise its staff on the importance of data protection and privacy, and to extend its compliance drive to the tertiary institutions it works with, as well as its vendors.

In his remarks, Mr Sawyerr commended Dr Olatunji for his commitment to embedding data protection and privacy in the national fabric. While he highlighted the dilemma of balancing accountability with privacy, he acknowledged that NELFund deals with data that must be protected and expressed his willingness, on behalf of NELFund, to work with the NDPC to ensure compliance with the provisions of the NDP Act.

Dr Olatunji offered free induction training for all NELFund staff, along with Virtual Privacy Academy vouchers and Data Protection Officer certification for some of them. Mr Sawyerr thanked him and affirmed NELFund’s readiness to work with the NDPC. A working group was also set up to advance the partnership between the two organisations.