The Nigeria Knowledge Safety Fee (NDPC) has launched an investigation into TikTok and Truecaller over alleged knowledge breaches as a part of its enforcement of the Nigeria Knowledge Safety Act (NDPA).
The Nationwide Commissioner and Chief Government Officer of the NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, disclosed this at a press convention in Abuja on Thursday, stating that the fee was scrutinising their compliance with knowledge safety legal guidelines.
“As we communicate, we now have even gone to the extent of investigating multinationals. We’re at the moment investigating TikTok and Truecaller within the space of information privateness,” he stated.
He added that relying on the findings, if the businesses might undergo remediation and proper their lapses, the NDPC could be open to working with them.
Olatunji famous that when the fee started monitoring compliance, solely 4 per cent of organisations adhered to knowledge safety rules. Nevertheless, on account of elevated enforcement and engagement with stakeholders, compliance ranges have now improved to over 55 per cent.
Regulatory strategy and compliance monitoring
- The NDPC boss defined that the fee doesn’t impose instant sanctions on organisations present in breach of information safety legal guidelines. As a substitute, it adopts a remediation strategy that evaluates breaches based mostly on severity, the variety of affected people, and the potential influence on the economic system.
- Moderately than instantly saying non-compliance, the NDPC offers corporations with particular corrective measures to handle their shortcomings. As soon as an organization is discovered to be in breach, it should keep detailed information of its knowledge processing actions and rectify recognized failures. The fee then displays these organisations for a interval of six months to a 12 months to make sure full compliance.
- Whereas the NDPC prioritises remediation, Olatunji stated the fee wouldn’t hesitate to take stronger enforcement actions the place needed.
New directive for knowledge safety compliance
On the press convention, the NDPC additionally unveiled the Nigeria Knowledge Safety Act – Common Utility and Implementation Directive (NDP Act-GAID), which offers complete pointers to assist knowledge controllers and processors adjust to the regulation.
- Olatunji described the directive as a big milestone in Nigeria’s knowledge privateness efforts, significantly as rising applied sciences proceed to reshape digital interactions. He acknowledged that following President Bola Tinubu’s assent to the Nigeria Knowledge Safety Invoice on 12 June 2023, the NDPC started growing a framework to make sure its full implementation.
- The directive, which might be made out there on the NDPC portal, covers essential areas corresponding to knowledge safety ideas, lawful bases for knowledge processing, knowledge topics’ rights, cross-border knowledge transfers, compliance audit returns, and standardised grievance redress mechanisms.
- Moreover, the NDPC launched the Customary Discover to Tackle Grievance (SNAG), a mechanism that enables people to demand remedial motion straight from knowledge controllers and processors with out first going by way of the fee. This, Olatunji stated, empowers over 230 million Nigerians to play an lively position in imposing knowledge safety legal guidelines.
He introduced that the total implementation of the directive would begin in September 2025, with a six-month transition interval for organisations. All provisions regarding charges will take impact from January 2026.
The NDPC assured that it will proceed to supply steerage notices and advisories to make clear authorized necessities whereas rolling out capacity-building programmes to deepen the tradition of information privateness and safety in Nigeria.
Be First to Comment