TECH DIGEST – The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has pointed out that digital innovations and entrepreneurship are key to developing the digital economy in Nigeria.

He stated this during the Ministerial retreat organized by the Ministry for directorate cadre staff. The theme of the retreat is “Performance Improvement and Service Delivery in the Era of Digital Economy” held at the Digital Economy complex, Mbora, Abuja from November 16-17, 2020.

He said digital innovation and entrepreneurship are two prerequisites for developing indigenous digital economy and charged the staff to challenge citizens to come up with innovative ideas that would proffer solutions to societal problems.

According to him, “today we are a consuming nation and our economy will continue to suffer as long as we fail to integrate production in every sector of the economy. As a nation, we must excel in manufacturing and production, which is the way forward. Our day to day activities are to promote digital entrepreneurship and our target is to transform Nigeria into a leading digital economy” Dr. Pantami said that the Ministry involved stakeholders in the ICT sector, political parties, governors, traditional institutions, and religious leaders in developing digital policies for the nation adding that the policies are not about the present administration but long-time policies for the nation which would outlive the administration.

“We don’t think about the current administration in developing policies but our focus is about the country. We inherited documents from the previous administration which we implemented; we will also leave for the incoming administration because government is a continuum”.

The Minister stated that leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or members of an organization to achieve specific goals. He urged the management to work as a team and have analytical thinking so that they could break down complex information or comprehensive data into fundamental parts.

Earlier the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Musa Istifanus pointed out that the staff need to think outside the box to find solutions to Nigeria’s problems adding that the society would blame the Ministry if we fail to achieve digital economy objectives.

In her presentation titled “Strategy for Improvement on Implementation of Effective Service Delivery, the National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer, SERVICOM, Mrs. Nnenna Akajemeli commended the management of the Ministry for the retreat to enhance digital economy strategy for the improvement on implementation of effective service delivery. In her words, service delivery has been given priority by governments in both developed and developing nations.

The service delivery gap that exists has to be bridged through the collaboration for effective service delivery. The Chairman of ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye represented by Mr. Olayinka A. Aiyegbayo in his paper titled “Ethics and Integrity Compliance in the Workplace” pointed out that accountability and Transparency must be adapt and incorporated into the organization’s culture to enhance good governance, efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in the workplace.

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TECH DIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has recorded tremendous achievement by creating 2,686 new jobs, according to the statistics showing in the Agency’s first Annual Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) Performance Report 2019-2020.

The Report unveiled by Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami), has shown that NDPR met the need of the Nigerian environment; indicating that 76% of Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) has helped the country in their compliance with the regulation.

Dr Pantami expressed his satisfaction on how NITDA provided requisite support for industry adoption of the NDPR, adding that

I have reviewed the report and I am proud to see that we have through the NDPR, 2,686 job roles, thereby creating massive opportunities for young Nigerians to be recruited as Data Protection Officers, Data Protection Compliance Organisations, Compliance officers among others.

The DPCOs have also earned over N2 billion in the first year of implementation. This is the intent of our digital economy policy- empowering Nigerians in a way that ensures global competitiveness
According to the Minister, NDPR is part of the implementation of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which has eight pillars – Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy & Skills; Solid Infrastructure; Service Infrastructure; Digital Services Development & Promotion; Soft Infrastructure; Digital Society & Emerging Technologies; and Indigenous Content Development & Adoption.

The NDPR falls under the first pillar – Developmental Regulation. The objective of this pillar is to ensure an effective regulatory oversight and securing of the information, communication, technology and digital economy space to engender accelerated and inclusive development

While making a his remark, the Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, stated that the goal of the report is to give all stakeholders the opportunity to understand how the Agency has fared in the implementation of the NDPR, adding that understanding between industry players would generate further research and provide guidance to other regulators, partners, data controllers, data processors and other stakeholders.

He said NITDA made a compilation of all the organisations who filed their annual audit report for the year 2019.

Submission of an audit report does not conclusively indicate compliance with all tenets of data protection, this list shows organisations who have complied with the audit filing requirement of the NDPR, which is a key milestone towards compliance. It is important to note that non-filing of the NDPR audit report is a breach of the Regulation

Mallam Kashifu added that, the Report, being the first of its kind is aimed at highlighting key initiatives, successes and challenges of implementing the Regulation. The NDPR being a flagship of the NDEPS, is expected to be used as a learning curve for Nigeria and Africa on how to effectively implement global laws with due consideration of local peculiarities and opportunities.

The NDPR was issued on 25th January, 2019 pursuant to Section 6(a,c) of the NITDA Act, 2007. The Regulation covers every person subject to the laws of Nigeria, whether resident in Nigeria or not. It is aimed at safeguarding the rights of persons to privacy; fostering safe conduct for the transactions involving the exchange of personal data; preventing manipulation of personal data; and ensuring that Nigerian businesses remain competitive in international trade through the safeguards afforded by a just and equitable legal regulatory framework.

Since the issuance of the NDPR, Nigeria has turned a significant corner in her drive towards the maturation of the Digital Economy. The level of compliance is growing as shown in a key compliance indicator which requires the filing of a data audit report by every data controller and processor. Article 4.1(5) of the Regulation requires the filing of an initial data audit report and a subsequent annual audit report by every data controller and processor.

This process has helped NITDA to have an overview of the state of data governance in the reporting entity while also helping government understand requisite intervention points to improve data governance, cyber-security and privacy protection.

In the year under review, NITDA served 51 enforcement notices on data controllers who are perceived to have breached the provisions of the NDPR. Also, 180 compliance notices were served on Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, one of which is the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) breach.

The LIRS was found to have exposed the personal data of some taxpayers in the process of harmonising historical tax data. NITDA initiated an investigation on LIRS and its major data processor. A fine of One Million naira (N1,000,000.00) (over $2,500) was imposed on the LIRS.

The decision on fine value was reached after considering the cooperation and prompt remedial actions taken by the LIRS in the course of the investigation.

On the other hand, NITDA has commenced investigation into the activities and operations of seven (7) data controllers as part of its enforcement drive.

The Agency is being mindful of the implications of negative publicity on business, hence refrained from making public statements on breach until the legal and procedural basis has been established.

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