‘There’s deficit of manpower’ — NDPC says Nigeria needs 500k data protection officers

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), says the country needs about 500,000 data protection officers to address the deficit of manpower in the sector.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Monday, Vincent Olatunji, the national commissioner of NDPC, said the commission has started working on an initiative that would enable private instructors, universities and polytechnics to train data protection officers.

“There is a deficit of manpower in these areas and in an area like data protection, we need a minimum of 500,000 data protection officers,” Olatunji said.

“The certified ones in the country are not more than 10,000, hence the dire need for experts in the area to bridge the skills gap.”

According to NAN, on January 8, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), in a circular, directed heads of polytechnics and mono-technics to unbundle the higher national diploma (HND) in computer science into four specialised areas.

The areas are artificial intelligence, networking and cloud computing, software and  web development, cyber security and  data protection.

Olatunji said there is an urgent need to consider existing curriculums to reflect change in line with best practices for global competitiveness.

He said the move by NBTE is a step towards a necessary change in developing data protection officers for the service of the country.