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Say they risk losing trust, investment without it
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Nigeria records 27,000 data protection professionals in three years
The Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have urged state governments to urgently implement the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 to protect citizens’ personal information and strengthen public trust.
They spoke at a two-day data privacy implementation workshop organised by the NGF in partnership with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), which brought together representatives of state governments, including heads of service, attorneys-general and commissioners for Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said effective data protection was critical to the nation’s digital transformation and economic development.
Tijani, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Nadungu Gagare, said digital infrastructure such as fibre-optic networks, data centres and digital portals would not be enough to build a thriving digital economy without a secure and privacy-compliant environment.
He said the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 provided the legal foundation, while the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) 2025 provided the operational framework for data governance across all tiers of government.
“Trust is the bedrock currency that powers it all. Without a secure and privacy-compliant environment, citizen engagement stalls, investment slows, and digital progress is compromised,” he stated.
The minister urged state governments to develop concrete roadmaps for establishing robust data governance structures, stressing that digital governance could not stop at the federal level.
He said state governments were direct points of contact for millions of Nigerians through their handling of civil registration, healthcare, education, land administration, and other public services.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the NGF, Dr Abdulateef Shittu, said states were indispensable to building a credible and coherent national data protection regime.
Represented by Chijioke Chuku, the forum’s General Counsel and Head of Energy, Shittu said the NGF’s partnership with the NDPC was aimed at providing states with a common platform for implementation, strengthening institutional understanding, and promoting consistency in data protection practices.
According to him, the protection of personal data is fundamentally an issue of good governance, particularly as government services become increasingly digital.
“Citizens must remain confident that innovation will not come at the expense of their privacy, security or trust,” he said.
He urged participants to leave the workshop with a clear understanding of their institutional responsibilities and concrete steps for implementing data protection requirements in their respective states.
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On his part, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said the effective implementation of the Data Protection Act would not be possible without the active involvement of state governments.
Olatunji said more than 70 per cent of people globally lived at the sub-national level, making state governments critical to the success of data protection laws.
He explained that citizens constantly provide personal information to government agencies, banks, schools, healthcare providers, and other organisations, creating a responsibility for those institutions to protect such data from unauthorised access and misuse.
The NDPC boss warned that poor data protection could result in financial losses, wrong medical diagnoses, reputational damage, and other serious consequences for citizens.
He said states should see data protection not merely as regulatory compliance but as an opportunity to strengthen public confidence, attract investment, and create jobs.
According to him, Nigeria now has more than 10,000 certified data protection officers, while over 27,000 people work within the country’s privacy ecosystem, compared with fewer than 1,000 three years ago.
Olatunji also said the NDPC had recorded significant growth in registered organisations and the data protection compliance ecosystem, stressing that states could benefit from the emerging opportunities in the sector.
He urged state governments to establish appropriate policies, governance structures, and frameworks for effective implementation rather than creating separate state data protection laws.
Similarly, the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Murtala Sule Garo, said effective data protection was essential to building citizens’ confidence in government and digital transformation initiatives.
Representing Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, Garo said state governments handled large volumes of sensitive information through education, healthcare, taxation, employment, social protection, and other public services.
He stressed that data protection required the involvement of political leaders, permanent secretaries, heads of government agencies, ICT professionals, legal officers, and data protection officers.
He urged states to focus on practical measures, including staff training, data security, access control, proper data retention, and breach management.
