The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to collaborate with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to safeguard the data of Nigerian citizens.
The decision was arrived at during a meeting between officials of the NDPC led by the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, and the INEC Chairman and National Commissioners.
Speaking at the meeting, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the Commission has the highest volume of citizens data on the African continent with over 93 million registered voters.
He said “At the last election, we had Ninety-Three Million (93,000,000) records of citizens and only recently, we conducted the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in just two states (Edo and Ondo) and have added more than Two Hundred Thousand (200,000) additional records to the existing register.”
Read Also: Gradely unveils mobile App to boost student learning
Yakubu said the Commission is saddled with the responsibility of conducting credible elections in the country, pointing out that “there cannot be credible elections without a credible register of voters and there cannot be a credible register of voters without data. We are very proud to say that INEC has perhaps the largest database of citizens in Africa.”
He emphasized the critical need for collaboration on data protection, saying “We also house perhaps the most sensitive national record of citizens with their fingerprints and facial biometrics and we include all citizens from those in the executive branch of government to people in the National Assembly, Security Services in the country, we have our Justices of all categories of courts in the database.
“We have all categories of citizens, male and female, young and old.”
Also speaking, National Commissioner, May Agbamuche-Mbu said INEC had thoroughly studied the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) and expressed a strong desire to collaborate with the agency to safeguard citizens’ data. This intention prompted the invitation extended to the National Commissioner/ CEO and his team to visit INEC.
On his part, the NDPC boss commended the initiative for the meeting and emphasized the vital and crucial importance for protection of data domiciled in the Commission.