The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has joined 60 other Data Protection Authorities across the world in endorsing the “Joint Statement on AI-Generated Imagery and the Protection of Privacy.”
According to a statement signed by the Commission’s Head of Legal, Enforcement, and Regulations, Mr. Babatunde Bamigboye, this signals Nigeria’s growing alignment with global efforts to curb the misuse of artificial intelligence tools.
The joint statement was coordinated by the International Enforcement Cooperation Working Group of the Global Privacy Assembly and reflects mounting concerns over the privacy risks associated with AI systems capable of generating highly realistic images and videos of identifiable individuals.
What they are saying
According to the NDPC, the endorsement shows the urgent need for stronger regulatory vigilance as generative AI tools become more sophisticated and widely accessible.
- “The Joint Statement highlights concerns over the misuse of Al-powered tools to create non-consensual imagery, defamatory content, and other harmful materials, particularly affecting children and vulnerable groups.
- “It calls on organisations to implement strong safeguards, ensure transparency, provide effective content removal mechanisms, and comply fully with applicable data protection laws,” the NDPC stated.
The NDPC noted that its endorsement forms part of a broader continuum of steps Nigeria is taking to ensure the responsible deployment of AI technologies.
It added that the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, has directed that Compliance Audit Returns under the Nigeria Data Protection Act will serve as a benchmark for assessing the responsible use of AI in data processing activities.
Under this directive, data controllers and processors classified as being of major importance will be required to demonstrate, through their audit submissions, that AI-driven data processing activities adhere strictly to the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act.
Get up to speed
For regulators, the growing realism of AI-generated images and videos has complicated enforcement, particularly in cases involving impersonation, deepfakes and identity manipulation.
- The current effort by NDPC forms part of a continuum of steps being taken by Nigeria to ensure the responsible use of Al.
- It will be recalled that the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr ‘Bosun Tijani, led the initiative for the development of the National Al Strategy.
The NDPC also issued the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID), which, amongst others, mandates privacy by design and privacy by default in the development and deployment of Al tools.
What you should know
As part of its data protection enforcement drives, the NDPC in February launched an investigation into Chinese e-commerce platform Temu over concerns that the personal data of millions of Nigerians may have been improperly handled.
- According to the Commission, the investigation was triggered by multiple concerns surrounding the platform’s handling of personal data, including issues related to online surveillance, transparency, accountability, data minimisation, duty of care, and cross-border data transfers.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that Temu is an e-commerce platform which processes personal information of approximately 12.7 million data subjects in Nigeria with 70 million daily active users globally,” the Commission stated.
The regulator said the scale of data collection raises significant questions about compliance with Nigeria’s privacy standards.
