Some Data Protection Officers (DPOs) have advocated a single regulatory body for Data Protection Acts, to sustain the already established confidence by investors in the country.
The DPOs spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday, on the sidelines of the 2nd edition of a training workshop for DPOs.
They spoke against the backdrop of Lagos state proposing a Data Protection Bill, which is in its second reading at the State Assembly.
NAN reports that the three-day workshop, which is from Oct. 15 to Oct. 17, is organised by the Data and Knowledge Information Academy (DKIA), a subsidiary of Data & Knowledge Information Privacy Protection Initiative (DKIPPI).
NAN also report that the workshop is to prepare non-certified Data Protection Officers (DPO) for Nigeria Data Protection Certification Examination by Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
Highlighting the benefits, the President of DKIPPI, Mr Tokunbo Smith, said that a single regulatory body, which is the NDPC for data protection acts rather than separate regulatory bodies, would streamline processes, reduce confusion and make it easier for businesses to operate.
Smith said that this would also help to protect data subject rights and maintain the principle of data protection.
He said that having a single regulator would also help to avoid legal issues and confusion around who collects what and when.
According to him, this approach will be similar to how the European Commission maintains one law regulating all European countries, and how China and South Africa have one regulator.
“This would help to create a more business friendly environment and attract investors, as they would only have to deal with one regulator.
“Also, when you look at it from the organisational aspect, most organisations are struggling, the economy is not good.
“This means we are creating a hostile environment for investors, because when investors come in, they are going to talk about their personal data and data subject as well,” he said.
According to Smith, if Europe cannot guarantee the personal data of a data subject from abroad, the country will lose investors.
Smith, also a Data Controller, said: “The best thing is for the one single regulator.
“They can have branches, regional branches, or state branches, that will now control the difference the states”.
Also, the Head, Research and Strategy, Nigeria Council of Real Estate Insurance Workers, Mrs Fadheelah Salam, affirmed that there should be a single regulatory body for data protection law.
Salam said that having different or states regulatory body would jeopardise the purpose of the one 18 months data protection law.
She said that not only would it erode inter and intra trade, but also promote underdevelopment of some state because some would eventually not implement the law.
According to her, NCDC is supposed to be the overall body that monitors all the states’ compliance to the NCDC Act, it can only have branch offices in each state for them to monitor implementation, advocacy and awareness.
Another participant of the training from Industrial General Insurance, Mr Sheriff Adeyeye, also advocated a single regulatory body for the NDPC acts, just as it is inheritance banking and insurance sector.
Adeyeye said that NDPC should be like the Central Bank of Nigeria, NDIC, that have branches in every state but have only one regulator because it is easier to monitor people’s activities that way.
“Take for instance, someone from Central Bank in another state could come to Lagos state to audit the banks because it is heading towards one direction, one goal which is easier.
“In this case, if there should be different regulators in each state, apparently there will be diversion from the main goal of the regulator and be uses as internally generated revenue by different states”.
Another participant from the Institute of Directors, Chucks Ezinmadu, said that there should be one regulator, simply because it is easier to manage and implement.
According to Ezinmadu, there is a reason the European Commission has one law regulating all the European countries, 26 countries countries coming together to adopt the General Data Protection Regulation.
He said same thing could be replicated in Nigeria to avoid some legal tussles within the state and Federal, as to who collects what and when.
