The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would 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 NDPC led by the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, 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; Retired Supreme Court Justice Augie, senior lawyers condemn indecent dressing of lawyers
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 emphasised 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, a 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 emphasised the vital importance of the protection of data domiciled in the Commission.
Harping on the need for data protection, he said: “Identity theft, unauthorized access to a database which people can use for malicious things has attracted global attention and all countries of the world are trying to put in place measures to ensure that they protect the data of citizens in their country.”
Dr. Olatunji assured the Commission that the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) will continue to offer support, particularly by providing free training for INEC staff to become Data Protection Officers.