The Federal Government has imposed N400 million fine on four banks and three other companies for breaches of citizens’ data in the course of their discharging services to them.
The National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, gave this hint during his presentation of the achievements of the commission during the one-year implementation of the NDPC Act by his management team
Olatunji disclosed that over the past year, more than 1,000 financial institutions, schools, insurance companies, and consultancy firms had been investigated for data breaches by the commission in furtherance of its statutory mandate.
According to him, the ongoing investigations of the commission are primarily aimed at addressing data infractions and by so doing, protect the personal data of Nigerians from any form of abuse as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Olatunji clarified: “When we started, compliance levels within the private sector were about 49 percent, while the public sector was at 4 percent. But today, private sector compliance is above 55 percent, and the public sector has reached 15 percent.”
It would be recalled that the NDPC Act 2023, designed to protect the private information of citizens, was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 14, 2023.
