The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has said that it would henceforth hold top executives of government Ministries, Agencies, and Departments (MDAs) accountable for any data breach that happens while they are in charge.
In an interview on the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner of the NDPC, said that persons in charge of MDAs would be penalized since the government cannot be forced to pay fines from its funds.
While the Commission has sanctioned private organizations under the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), no government institution has been penalized, despite fears that they are the one that mostly commits data breach offenses.
However, Olatunji said that with the passage of the Data Protection Bill into law, that period has come to an end.
According to Olatunji, the rate of compliance by private sector organizations has risen to 49%, greatly above the 9% achieved by the public sector.
To increase adherence by both public and commercial organizations, Dr. Vincent Olatunji said that the organization is launching a capacity-building initiative throughout the nation to educate additional data protection officers.
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