Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The Anambra State ICT Agency is set to collaborate with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to reduce the scourge of hacking, identity theft, and other ills that currently make online and offline presence a challenge in the state and country at large.
This was made known during a visit of the MD Anambra State ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Agbata, to the National Commissioner of NDPC as part of the agency’s efforts to ensure data privacy and protection for people of the state.
The visit allowed the two organisations to discuss areas of cooperation between the State and the Commission.
Among the key areas of cooperation discussed at the meeting include citizens’ awareness, where both organisations are looking at raising public consciousness around Data Protection and ensuring Data privacy for citizens.
Both executives also discussed the importance of capacity building to get more people trained on data protection as well as the need for public and private institutions in the state to engage the services of Data Protection Officers, DPOs, in compliance and monitoring, in line with the provisions of the Act establishing the NDPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
Both organisations are also looking to create new job openings and employment opportunities in areas such as Data Protection Officers (DPOs), and Compliance Officers among others, as an initiative towards Youth Empowerment. This they envisaged, will enable the youths to be better informed and empowered to set up innovative businesses around data protection and management.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Anambra State ICT Agency noted that data is the new oil, because of its strategic importance to planning across critical spheres of the economy.
He said, having underscored this, the State Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, is committed to accurate data sourcing and the protection of data, especially personal data, as an insurance that will enhance the prosperity of the people in the short run, as well as ensure that on a long run, more businesses flourish in the state.
According to CFA, the visit is to explore possible avenues for collaboration that will yield accurate data sourcing for the state, which will, in turn, prove resourceful for the commission in national planning.
Responding, the NDPC National Commissioner, Dr Vincent Olatunji, promised to support Anambra State through the ICT Agency, in its plan to make the state a technology-driven state.
