Isa Pantami, a professor of Cybersecurity, and minister of Communications and Digital Economy (Nigeria), has been scheduled to deliver the keynote address at this year’s National Data Privacy Week 2022.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), disclosed this during a press conference on Monday to announce the commencement of a week-long activities to commemorate the national week.
The DG announced theme for 2022 National Data Privacy Week, as: “Data Economics In Digital Economy: Charting Nigeria’s Data Strategy.”
“To drive this home, we have scheduled several activities such as A Keynote Address by the; Panel Discussions, Presentation of 2021 NDPR Report, Launching of Educational Programmes, etc. You are all invited to get involved in these events – not only for the purposes of media reportage but also as stakeholders in the overall quest of this administration towards building an inclusive digital economy”.
He said that the National Data Privacy Week was instituted to draw attention to need to maintain absolute data privacy both in government ands private sectors.
Abdullahi mentioned the critical developments in NITDA’s quest towards making lives and livelihoods more sustainable in the area of data privacy.
“If anyone was in doubt of the importance of data protection, the massive global shift towards the frontiers of the digital economy has effectively cleared that doubt. Recent economic statistics attest to this fact.
“For instance, ICT notched a 17.92% contribution to Nigeria’s GDP in the Second Quarter of 2021 – the highest in our history. This out-performs most of the economic sectors surveyed by the National Bureau of Statistics.
“Stakeholders in the industry will recall that National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) issued the extant Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2019.
“The success stories of the digital economy would have been tainted by horrendous abuses, if citizens who are the sole agents of socio-economic transactions are left without legal protection.
“Thus, as we celebrate Data Privacy week in this New Year, we must render our stewardship in data protection, exchange ideas with you and lay out the agenda for the Year 2022. Of course, space and time will not permit us to reel out the intricate details of what has been done and what needs to be done.
“Indeed, a detailed report will be presented in the course of the events that have been scheduled for this year’s Data Privacy Week.
Regarding the impact of the NDPR on Data Privacy In Nigeria, the NITDA boss, said, “The first thing we must emphasise in this regard is that data privacy is not a mere cliché for describing freedom from an embarrassing intrusion into what an individual does not wish to share with the public.
“Properly speaking, it is a technical concept that encompasses the safeguards for the dignity of human person, the safety of lives and livelihoods and the socio-economic integrity of a sovereign state in the frontiers of digital civilisation.
He said that the NDPR has made a landmark impact on data privacy in Nigeria.
