NITDA moves to deepen data protection competence in Nigeria

THE NATIONAL INFOR MATION TECHNOL OGY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY NITDA has commenced the process of partnering with a qualified institution to set standards, prepare exams, grant licences, and issue certifications on data protection skills in the country.

Kashifu Inuwa, director general of NITDA, made the disclosure during a hybrid symposium organised for Lagos State data protection officers (DPOs).

Inuwa, who argued that it was pertinent to incorporate artificial intelligence into data protection to enhance its accuracy and consistency, said the move is part of the agency’s commitment to upscale data protection in the country and ensure that over 350,000 Nigerians are certified with local and global competence in data protection by 2024.

The NITDA director general also emphasised the need to create professionals in the data protection ecosystem and categorise data elements which will determine the cloud adoption strategy to be used to meet global standards.

“One of the ideas we are mulling is to have an industry association for DPOs and the proposed DPO Forum that would be a peer review mechanism and a point of contact with regulators to shape policies and propose standards for the industry,” he said.

Inuwa also enjoined DPOs to improve their capacities by adopting best practices for data privacy and constantly keep themselves abreast of current innovations in keeping their data credible, noting that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud services are essential elements in safeguarding data from breach and enhancing the integrity of data.

Commenting on the issuance of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2019, Inuwa said NITDA has empowered DPOs by drafting, engaging the public and publishing the NDPR implementation framework to shed light on the provisions of the NDPR for easy interpretation and application.