He said this while answering questions during a virtual press conference with ICT Journalists.
According to Dr Olatunji, though the Commission will be under a supervisory Ministry, the law signed recently by president Bola Tinubu ensures that the Commission carryout data regulation to protect the citizens without fear or favour.
He was responding to prevailing climate where appointed government officials often interfer or check activities of agencies to shield political loyalists from prosecution.
‘The NDPC will implement the ACT recently signed by President Bola Tinubu graciously to ensure consistency and clarity with respect to the implementation of data protection standards across all sectors of the Nigerian economy”, he said.
Olatunji added that the NDPC is independent based on the law that set it up and will be able to sustain itself financially from licencing of DPO, annual returns and fines from data protection breaches.
According to him, data protection compliance in the public sector is hovering around 49 percent, adding that the commission has created 200 jobs and experts working in the public and private sectors.
Over 160 Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO)s are licensed and rendering almost 17 services in Nigeria.
The signing of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 has improved Nigeria’s global data privacy ranking and attracted investors, he said.
The commission disagrees with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the policy to leverage social media for account owners, adding that “Banks asking customers for social media handle is going overboard”, he noted.
