The National Commissioner of The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) Dr Vincent Olatunji says the commission is putting together mechanisms that would stimulate growth and create jobs while charging Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DCPOs) that are not performing well to buck up or face license revocation.
Dr Olatunji made the remark at a breakfast meeting organised by the commission for DCPOs in Lagos.
Dr Olatunji who said that it was necessary for Data Protection Compliance Organisations, DCPOs to look inwards and check the areas where they were not performing well noted that 19 licenses were revoked last year and the commission plans to do the same this year.
He emphasised the need for the DCPOs to understand that they have a key role to play in strengthening the ecosystem by registering data processors pointing out that they recorded a very low registration in March.
“The NDCP national commissioner who said the mantle is on DCPOs to drive advocacy by talking to their clients on the importance of data protection and why they need to register added that It was necessary to increase the number of data controllers and processors noted that the commission had 291 registered DCPOs, and are being evaluated on a regular basis.
He added that they were regulated based on the quality of what they were doing, noting that it was necessary to know if their performance was deepening data protection in the country.
On successes, recorded so far, Dr Olatunji said the commission had started working on the roadmap which was launched last yea and the government was instituting a national certification, noting that with the certification DCPOs could work anywhere.
He added that as a result of the positive impact the commission was making in Nigeria, all African Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) would be coming to the country.
Earlier in e remark the President, Institute of Information Management, Dr Oyedokun Oyewole who said that the data protection industry was still emerging listed some challenges being faced by DCPOs including lack of awareness, adding that a good number of stakeholders in the ecosystem were yet to understand the importance of deepening data protection.
He said though the NDPC has been doing a lot to create awareness about data privacy, guidance to businesses and organisations on compliance requirements to foster a culture of responsible data handling across sectors.the commission needed to intensify efforts towards creating more awareness, so that citizens can also understand the importance of data privacy in the increasingly digitised world.
Oyewole further explained that the institute had been doing a lot in terms of educating the public by organising information literacy week and digital transformation awareness campaign annually.
Coverage Chioma Ezike
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