In a recent announcement, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) disclosed that the country’s data protection industry played a pivotal role in generating 10,123 jobs for Nigerians in 2023. The revelation comes from the NDPC’s Annual Data Protection Report released on Sunday, showcasing a 5.7% increase in job creation compared to the 9,577 positions generated in 2022.
According to the report, compliance revenue also experienced a significant boost, climbing to N325 million from N94.4 billion in 2022. The number of verified Data Protection Officers rose from 1,928 in 2022 to 1,955 in 2023, accompanied by an increase in investigations from 117 to 177.
The cumulative revenue for the data protection industry in 2023 reached N6.2 billion, marking an upswing from N5.5 billion in the previous year. Notable areas of growth included the Compliance Audit Report, which recorded 3,451 reports from 2022 to 2023, compared to 1,864 from 2020 to 2021.
Babatunde Bamigboye, Head of Legal, Enforcement, and Regulations at NDPC, commented on the report, highlighting the commission’s successes. These include improved auditing practices, global recognition through admission to the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), and an increasing acknowledgment of the significance of data privacy within the legal domain.
The achievements also encompass the launch of the Nigeria Data Protection Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2023-2027, bilateral cooperation with other jurisdictions, and the issuance of the Data Protection Compliance Organizations code of conduct.
Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner of NDPC, underscored the industry’s potential, emphasizing that data protection could generate over 500,000 jobs. He pointed out that Nigeria’s extensive data generation, involving at least 500,000 data-generating bodies, necessitates the presence of Data Protection Officers to prevent breaches. Olatunji also highlighted the significant career potential in data protection, given the daily global data generation requiring policing within legal parameters.
Credit: Nairametrics
