Angst as Nigeria Abandons old DPR, Seeks Firm to Draft New Document

Tempers are said to be flaring in Nigeria as the federal government has reportedly abandoned a previous DPR text which was concluded in 2020, and is looking to engage a new firm to write up an entirely new one.

The bill, which Nigeria now wants to abandon, cost the federal government huge sums of money to draft as experts were brought in from across the board to put together the document intended to protect the personal data of Nigerians in line with Section 37 of the country’s constitution, according to Premium Times.

Efforts have been ongoing to put data protection laws in place in Nigeria since 2018.

This latest move has now pricked the anger of cybersecurity experts and other stakeholders who think the financial resources are scarce for such an endeavor to be proceeded with at this time. They also hold the view that the previous DPR was comprehensive enough and met global standards on the subject.

The federal government is planning to fund the consultation for the new draft through a loan it has applied for from the World Bank, Premium Times notes, citing a call to tender published in some Nigerian media recently by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), seeking the services of a firm to execute the job.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria seeks to hire the services of a consulting firm to provide legal advice to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMCDE) in order to help develop and implement the legal framework, institutional and regulatory capacity for data protection, cybersecurity and ID systems which gives effect to the reforms contemplated by the Nigeria ID4D Project,” part of the tender notice published by the NIMC reads.

The outlet further cites the NIMC tender which indicates that the consulting firm will also redo “existing laws and regulations, including the National Identity Management Commission, National Population Commission legislations, and Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) legislation to harmonise the overall approach to data protection, cybersecurity and cybercrimes in Nigeria and ensure the ID system operates in an inclusive, nondiscriminatory, and transparent manner.”

Premium Times said one of the stakeholders involved in the drafting of the previous bill expressed surprise when he saw the notice of expression of interest for a new DPR from the NIMC.

The unnamed expert said: “This bill is at the justice ministry is waiting to be transmitted to Federal Executive Council (FEC); that was what we were told. The FEC was expected to send it as Executive Bill to the National Assembly. That is the stage we were until we saw this advertorial.”

This latest data protection development in Nigeria means citizens will be forced to continue waiting for legislation that can safeguard and guarantee their data privacy rights.

The government is also seeking financial assistance from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Investment Bank, in part to increase National Identification Number (NIN) enrollments.

With the digital ID drive in the country, notably the linkage of NINs to SIM cards, in full gear, concerns continue to mount over the absence of a data privacy regulation framework.