NDPC to revoke licenses of non-performing data professionals

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) on Wednesday says it will revoke licenses of Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DCPOs) that were not performing well.

The National Commissioner of NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said this during a breakfast meeting organised by the commission for DCPOs in Lagos.

Olatunji said that it was necessary for DCPOs to look inwards and check the areas where they were not performing well.

According to Olatunji, last year 19 licenses were revoked and the commission plans to do the same this year.

“They need to know that they have a key role to play in strengthening the ecosystem by registering data processors.

“What we have seen from the end of March till now in terms of registration is very low.

“The mantle is on them to drive advocacy by talking to their clients on the importance of data protection and why they need to register.

It is necessary to increase the number of data controllers and processors,” Olatunji said.

The national commissioner said that the commission had 291 registered DCPOs, which were 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, Olatunji said the commission had started working on the roadmap which was launched last year.

He said NDPC was putting together mechanisms that would stimulate growth and create jobs.

Olatunji said that 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.

Also, the President, Institute of Information Management, Dr Oyedokun Oyewole, said that primarily the data protection industry was still emerging.

He said part of the challenges faced by DCPOs had to do with lack of adequate awareness, adding that a good number of stakeholders in the ecosystem were yet to understand the importance of deepening data protection.

“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 also needs to intensify efforts on creating more awareness, so that citizens can also understand the importance of data privacy in our increasingly digitised world,” Oyewole said.

Oyewole said further 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.