NDPB Submits Data Protection Bill To Communications Minister

National commissioner of the National Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), Dr Vincent Olatunji, has formally presented the National Data Protection Bill to the minister of communication and digital economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami for onward transmission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for its approval.

A statement issued by the external communication manager, National Digital Identification for Development (NDID4D), Mouktar M. Adamu, said the bill, which was drafted following series of stakeholder engagements marked the end of the three-month process of seeking stakeholders’ input.

Earlier, the draft bill was validated by stakeholders and uploaded on the NDPB website:www.ndpb.gov.ng for public scrutiny, contributions and comments within a seven day-period, according to Mouktar Adamu, the External Communication Manager of the National Digital Identification for Development (NDID4D) project that is supporting the process.

Receiving copies of the draft bill, the minister directed that it should be handed over to his team for review and a covering memo.

He assured the national commissioner and the coordinator of the NDID4D that due diligence would be done on the bill to ensure its speedy passage by the National Assembly and eventual assent by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said: “With the recent assent to the recent start-up bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, we are confident of the speedy passage of this bill by the National Assembly whom we have enjoyed a robust working relationship, and an assent by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.’’

At the workshop for the National Assembly members, the chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT, Ibrahim Hoseni had pledged that the committee would do the needful by passing the bill, once it was presented before the legislature.

When promulgated, the law would seek to safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.