IN THE SHADOW OF THE GDPR: THE ROAD TOWARDS ADVANCING THE INFORMATION PRIVACY INTERESTS OF DATA SUBJECTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Following the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016, the Nigerian government’s Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) released the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in 2019 to address data privacy issues in the country. The NDPR, although possessing many similar compliance requirements to the GDPR, presents a framework for regulating data processing that is deficient in many ways when compared to the GDPR. A year after the NDPR was released, the Data Protection Bill (2020) was introduced into the Nigerian House of Representatives, which if passed, will close many of the gaps in the NDPR, while leaving some issues outstanding. Against this backdrop, in this paper, this writer assesses potential justifications for Nigeria’s choice of a less stringent regulatory framework. These justifications include: the extraterritorial effect of the GDPR, the socio-economic climate in the country, and the role of the private sector in enhancing cybersecurity protection.

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UNILAG Law Review, (2021) Volume 5 Edition 1.