The commission’s Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, Babatunde Bamigboye, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja.

Bamigboye said the investigation was ordered by the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, following public complaints concerning the alleged misuse of students’ personal information.

According to him, the probe will establish the roles and responsibilities of the three organisations in the collection, processing and disclosure of the affected students’ data, as well as determine whether they complied with obligations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

He said the investigation would also assess the wider data governance implications of the case and the potential risks posed to the affected students.

“The investigation will, among others, cover Data Protection Impact Assessments, the lawfulness and transparency of any credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems,” Bamigboye said.

He added that the commission would examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation, purpose limitation, retention policies and the technical and organisational safeguards put in place to protect data subjects’ rights.

Bamigboye stressed that organisations entrusted with personal information have a responsibility to ensure that such data are processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.

The NDPC official said the UNILAG case forms part of a broader effort by the commission to address data protection compliance gaps within Nigeria’s education sector.

He warned educational institutions that have yet to comply with existing NDPC directives to take their obligations seriously, noting that data protection compliance is essential to safeguarding the rights and freedoms of students and other data subjects.

The investigation will specifically determine whether students’ personal information was used to open bank accounts without a valid legal basis and whether the parties involved complied with requirements relating to consent, transparency and purpose limitation under the Nigeria Data Protection Act.

The commission’s probe is expected to establish whether any violations occurred and determine the appropriate regulatory response based on its findings.

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TECH DIGEST – Nigeria is gradually moving towards a vehicular industry driven by non-fossil fuel. Almost five months after unveiling the country’s first electric vehicles by Hyundai, the federal government on Tuesday commissioned the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

An electric vehicle charging station connects an electric vehicle (EV) to a source of electricity to recharge electric cars. They are becoming a common landscape feature worldwide with the increasing shift from fossil-energy cars. There are now 26,000 electric vehicle charging stations open to the public in the U.S., with more than 84,000 plugs as at July 2020.

An initiative of the National Automotive Design and Development Agency (NADDC), under the Elective Vehicle Pilot Project, the commissioning was attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo inside the university’s Faculty of Engineering, NADDC Board Chairman, Senator Osita Izunaso; and NADDC Director General, Jelani Aliyu.

Others were UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatowin Ogundipe; and Chief Executive Officer of Stallion Group, Anant Badjatya, with many other dignitaries.

The minister described the program as another initiative of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to promote advanced technology transfer and the development of sophisticated human capital in the country.

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TECH DIGEST – UNILAG Vice Chancellor, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, appeals to public-spirited Nigerians to help indigent students get tablets for the online post-UTME test

The Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has appealed to public-spirited Nigerians to assist indigent candidates to get tablets, as the university gets set for online post-UTME tests.

Mr Ogundipe, a professor, made the appeal during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

He said in the face of the resurgence of COVID-19, all academic activities of the institution, including examinations, will be online.

“We are to conduct our post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test on February 15 to February 23; that is, it will run for about nine days.

“This examination is going to be an e-examination such that wherever the candidates are, they do not need to come to campus. It is simple and convenient.

“We looked at the issue of indigent candidates, we then decided to see how we can carry them along.

“Right now, we have started talking to some friends of the university and alumni to see how we can get tablets that we can give them.

“We have got the number of these indigent candidates registered for the post-UTME test, and they are above 200,” he told NAN.

Mr Ogundipe said the candidates would need the tablets not just for the purpose of the post-UTME test but also to facilitate other e-learning processes.

“We are talking to the alumni president and friends of the university to get these tablets in order to facilitate e-learning processes.

He said over 50,000 candidates applied for admission into the university in the 2020)2021 academic session, with about 22,000 scoring 200 marks and above.

According to him, 21,955 candidates have so far paid for the conduct of the post-UTME test.

“It is the first time that we are conducting this type of examination, and it is such that these candidates must have their laptops with cameras.

“If they do not have a camera attached to their laptops, they will not be allowed to participate in the examination.

“We expect the results to come out within one week after the conduct of the examination,” he said.

Mr Ogundipe said the university had collapsed the 2020/2021 academic session with the 2021/2022 academic session.

“It is going to affect our admission number, because it means we have to admit two streams, except if JAMB is not conducting its examination this year.

“If it is conducting, we are mandated to admit students,” the vice-chancellor said.

Mr Ogundipe reiterated that the institution would commence online lectures for returning students on Monday.

He said the university could not afford bringing back students to campus due to COVID-19 pandemic.

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