The Federal Government has commenced investigation into the
circumstances surrounding an alleged unlawful disclosure of the
personal data of a Nigerian citizen by officials of the Nigeria
Immigration Service.
In June, it was reported that a Nigerian destroyed five
diplomatic cars in front of Nigeria High Commission in London after
the collection of his Nigerian passport was delayed, even after the
payment of all the required fees.
Reports revealed the man’s identity as Jeffrey Apkovweta Ewohime
after his personal data, including the information page of his
passport, was published allegedly by the Nigeria Immigration
Service officials.
The development contravened provisions of the Nigeria Data
Protection Regulation 2019, which was developed by the National
Information Technology Development Agency.
The law forbids the disclosure of an individual’s personal data
without the person’s authorisation.
The incident has led to concerns over NITDA’s ability to enforce
the provisions of the data protection law and other regulatory
instruments.
Reacting to the concerns on Friday, NITDA Director General, Dr
Isa Ibrahim, said the agency had commenced investigations into the
alleged unauthorised disclosure of the UK-based Nigerian’s
data.
Ibrahim spoke while responding to questions from journalists
during the signing and public presentation of five regulatory
instruments in Abuja.
Asked whether the agency was aware of the incident, Ibrahim
said, “We are in the process of investigation and the body that
released the data has been contacted.
“But as you know, since we are still investigating, we cannot
make all the information available for now.”
The five regulatory instruments presented by NITDA at the
programme were Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in
Information and Communications Technology as amended; Nigeria
e-Government Interoperability Framework; Nigeria ICT Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Vision; Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy; and
Framework and Guidelines for ICT adoption in tertiary
institutions.
Earlier in his address at the event, Ibrahim explained that
NITDA was targeting a 30 per cent increase in the adoption of cloud
computing by Federal Government establishments by 2024 through the
implementation of the Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy.
“The goal of this policy is to ensure a 30 per cent increase in
the adoption of cloud computing by 2024 among federal public
institutions and SMEs that provide digital-enabled services to the
government.
“This policy also targets 35 per cent increase in cloud
computing investments by 2024,” he added.
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