REGULATIONS OR LEGISLATION FOR DATA PROTECTION IN NIGERIA? A CALL FOR A CLEAR LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK (Published)
Personal information or personally identifiable data is a subject that people have become aware of the need to protect. And the challenge of legislating for data protection in today’s world is that which many nations have taken seriously. Nigeria as a developing nation appears not to be left out of this as the NITDA has released a set of guidelines in this regard as a means to offer some protection. This article examines legislations on the Nigerian landscape that resemble data protection legislation like the Official Secrets Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the most recent NITDA Draft Guidelines for data protection with a view to show the adequacy or otherwise. The guidelines were examined in some detail. The paper summarily compares the present landscape with the European Union standard and concludes that Nigeria does not have adequate data protection legislation. The paper concludes that strong legislation is desirable to protect personal data in Nigeria.
Keywords: Data protection, Guidelines, Legislation, Security, cyberspace