The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has said that the economic value of the country’s data protection is now over N10 billion.
The National Commissioner of the NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, disclosed this on Tuesday during an event to commemorate one year of the Commission. Olatunji said the industry was able to attain this level of economic value due to the signing of the Data Protection Act into law on June 12, 2023.
“The law legitimized the NDPC and we have gained global recognition, and in terms of economic value, we have an ecosystem that is worth over N10 billion now. The law has positioned Nigeria for digital presence,” he said.
Earlier this year, the NDPC disclosed in its annual report that the country’s data protection industry created a total of 10,123 jobs for Nigerians in 2023.
Other benefits of the law
According to Olatunji, signing the law gave the NDPC more credibility and caused it to attract lots of attention within Nigeria and across the globe.
“The remarkable thing about the law is that we applied for the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) in 2022 as a bureau and our application was rejected because we did not have a National legislation on data protection.
“Having been accredited less than one year now, Nigeria is on the front page of the GPA’s newsletter for this quarter which is a big deal for us,” he said.
He said the commission had also gained the opportunity to host Data Protection Officers (DPOs) across Africa at a conference in May 2025, which would impact the economic value of the country in the areas of tourism and culture.
He added that the conference would also help to change the perception of the country at the global level and attract foreign direct investment to the country.
Free training for DPOs
The National Commissioner said as part of efforts to deepen the industry, the Commission would soon launch a program to train 1000 Data Protection Officers (DPOs) across the country free of charge.
While noting that the program is part of the job creation initiatives of President Bola Tinubu, he said the DPOs would be certified as trainers.
“In terms of job creation and training, we have done a lot to ensure we deepen data protection in Nigeria. Part of what we are doing in the ministry is to train 10,000 public servants on responsible data management which the portal is already open.
He said the Commission has also licensed a national certification body that has been designed in a way that creates value for everyone in the industry.
More insights
As of the time the Nigeria Data Protection Bill was signed into law last June, Olatunji said that the industry had contributed N5.5 billion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
With the Act in Place, Olatunji declared that the industry’s contribution to the GDP would jump.
According to him, data protection has the potential to generate over 500,000 jobs.
While noting that Nigeria as the fifth most populated nation in the world is generating huge Data that needs to be protected from compromise, Olatunji said there are at least 500,000 data-generating bodies in Nigeria and each of them requires Data Protection officers to guide against breaches as enshrined in the Data Protection Act.
