N’assembly to pass data protection bill within 30 days

The national assembly says it will pass the data protection bill into law within 30 days.

This would be done when it receives the document from the federal executive council (FEC).

Yakubu Oseni, chairman, senate committee on information communication technology (ICT), said this on Monday during a one-day sensitisation workshop on data protection organised for members of the national assembly in Abuja.

Oseni said there was a need to enact a law to guide the operations of the Nigerian Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) since its establishment by the federal government for data protection.

“I want to assure you that as national assembly members, we will make sure that we do justice to the bill. We need to give legal backing to the agency,” he said.

“We are waiting for them to bring the bill and we will ensure it gets to the president within one month.”

Oseni said this legislation ought to have become a law since 2019, however, when the bill was sent to the president “it was not assented to”.

“Now that it is coming from the executive side, I believe that it will see the light of the day,” he added.

“This is an agency set up to protect the data of individuals and organisations.”

According to the senator, protection of data is very important, noting that “your data is your property”.

On his part, Abubakar Lado, chairman, house committee on ICT and cybercrime, assured the agency that the house of representatives would expedite action on the bill.

“As the national assembly, we are committed to the well-being of Nigerians,” Lado said.

“We want to assure the agency that anytime the bill comes to us we will ensure its speedy passage.

Speaking virtually, Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, harped on the importance of the bill to data privacy and confidentiality.

He said the event was to sensitise the national assembly members before the executive bill is presented to the national assembly “so that they can block all the gaps”.

“This bill will ensure the privacy and confidentiality of the data of our citizens,” Pantami said.

Also, Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer,NDPB, said the agency had created over 8,000 jobs by certifying over 5,000 data protection experts.

“By October we will send the bill to the minister who will forward it to the federal executive council (FEC) for it to be sent as an executive bill to the national assembly,” he said.

“Our belief is that the bill will be passed before the end of this year,” he said.