NDPC investigates firms for data breaches

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has said it is investigating nine new organisations for data breaches.

The National Commissioner of the commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, stated this during an interaction with journalists on Tuesday. While he did not name the firms, he noted that they included an insurance firm, a school, and a consulting firm.

He stated this while speaking on the commission’s independence.

Olatunji said, “As pertaining to independence, when you consider section seven of our act, the commission has to be independent.

“Since we started, the commission has not had any course to run to anyone. We have fined three major banks, and they will pay their fines. We are currently investigating about nine major organisations, an insurance firm, a school, and a consulting firm. We don’t work based on political affliction.”

He noted that the NDPC was currently working with the Central Bank of Nigeria on its social media KYC requirement.

He explained that after the regulation was announced, the commission wrote to the apex bank, who also applied.

Olatunji noted that while the CBN was within its right to want to protect the financial system from data risks, it was currently discussing with the commission on next steps.

He added, “We are working together to address the challenges of this regulation. We are getting results. The financial sector has a huge database.”

According to him, the task of securing the data of Nigerians was huge, but the new Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 was up to the task.

In February, Olatunji announced that the commission, which was still a bureau at the time, was investigating over 110 companies in Nigeria over allegations of data breach.

At the time, the companies included banks, telecommunications firms, gaming companies, and online lending companies.