Data Protection Regulation To Generates N5.2bn Economy in 30 months

The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) is obviously on the path of progress, going by its results within 30 months of implementation.

Jubilating National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the government agency in charge of NDPR supervision, had enthusiastically spoken of its performance, stating that NDPR had within thirty months of implementation generated a market valued at over N5.2 billion and about  2,600 jobs.

NITDA’s Director, e-Government Development and Regulation, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, said NDPR achieved the feat in collaboration with the private sector, stressing that Data Protection Regulation applies to all intended transactions for personal data processing irrespective of how the processing was being conducted or intended to be conducted in respect of natural persons in Nigeria.

“This regulation is applicable to natural persons residing in or outside Nigeria that are citizens of the country, it does not operate to deny any Nigerian or any natural person the privacy rights he is entitled to under any law, regulation, and policy contract currently in force in Nigeria or any foreign jurisdiction”, he said, stating that the NDPR was a major boost in the country’s move to enthrone the digital economy.

Diversifying the economy, going now by what is obtainable across the global economy, he said, was more important than depending on the oil, pointing out that due to innovations, a lot of things were coming up that oil may not provide the critical resource.

“What we are looking at now is knowledge economy. We have the national digital economy policy and strategy under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The plan is based on seven major pillars, including digital and developmental regulations; solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, innovation and entrepreneurship, indigenous content promotion, and digital transformation.

“If you look at all these pillars we have mentioned, what we are trying to do is to ensure that there are so many activities that will ensure that we have, as a country, a robust national digital economy and the roles to be played by stakeholders and government,” the NITDA e-Government Development and Regulation Director said, stating that “government is to create the enabling environment for the private sector to bring investments while the media would advocate.”

Between when the policy was launched and now, the contribution of this sector to the GDP is over 14.7 percent as compared to less than four percent years back and that is the new trend globally, he said, stressing: “We cannot, as a country say, we don’t want to go through that route because there is little involved, we can’t depend on oil because it will get to a stage that the oil will finish. If you tie this to what we have done on NDPR, you will be amazed.

“For instance, between when we started implementing NDPR and now, we have created a market and an economy on its own that is worth over N5.2 billion, and this sector has employed over 2,600 people, just within 30 months of implementing it.

“Why we have achieved this much is the fact that we are working with private sector organizations to ensure the implementation of the regulation because it is one thing to have a policy and regulation and another for it to be successfully implemented. We have licensed three firms in this area, NDPR is directly under pillar one.”