The Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has reaffirmed the commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration towards building a $1 trillion digital economy.
He said the government’s commitment was not mere rhetoric but a determination.
Tijani said the Tinubu administration has remained clear, consistent, and deliberate about its vision of achieving shared prosperity for Nigerians, including the ambition to build a $1 trillion economy.
He said the government has, within a short period, built strong institutions with regulatory powers to support the commitment.
The minister stressed that the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) was one of such institutions with the requisite capacity for data protection and building digital trust as key pillars for Nigeria’s digital transformation and economic growth.
Tijani said this while addressing reporters at this year’s edition of the Global Privacy Day at AATC Hotel in Abuja.
The minister hailed the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) for its leadership in driving conversations around data privacy and protection.
He noted that although the commission has existed for less than three years, it has emerged as a strong institution within government and society.
Tijani stressed that technology remains central to achieving the goal of $1 trillion economy as it enables economic growth, infrastructure development, job creation, and improved public services.
The minister also announced the government’s plans to procure two additional communication satellites for the country through NigComSat.
He stressed that Nigeria is currently the only country in West Africa with a functional communication satellite.
Commenting on human capital development, Tijani said Nigeria runs the largest technology talent accelerator in Africa, designed to build a workforce capable of competing and creating value in the global digital economy.
The minister stressed that increased connectivity comes with increased responsibility, especially in protecting citizens’ data.
“Data protection and privacy are the foundation of trust. Without trust, our digital economy cannot succeed,” he said.
The National Commissioner/CEO of NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, outlined the achievements of the commission within the past three years, saying over N5.2 billion has been generated through the commission into government coffers.
According to him, no fewer than 23,000 jobs have been created within the data privacy ecosystem, as the value of data protection ecosystem has peaked at about N16.2 billion.
He said the commission had carried out and concluded investigations on 246 data protection and privacy breaches by various institutions, while appropriate sanctions had been meted out to the affected institutions.
The NDPC boss stated that about 8,155 compliance audit returns have been filed by the Commission, while training programmes have been organised for various categories of Compliance Officers across the country.
Olatunji also said the NDPC launched the Youth Data Protection Awareness & Training Programme in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to empower 5,000 Nigerian youths with digital literacy and data privacy skills.
He added that more collaborations were still ongoing with the governments of Bauchi, Benue, Ondo, and Ekiti states for awareness creation and training programmes on data protection and privacy.
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