Between Oversight And Intrusion: Regulating Workplace Surveillance Under Nigerian Data Protection Law

1. Introduction

The modern workplace is no longer confined to the physical office. As businesses increasingly embrace digital systems, remote working arrangements and technology-driven management, employers now have unprecedented visibility into the activities of their workforce. Employee attendance can be recorded through biometric systems; movements can be tracked through GPS-enabled devices; emails and internet activity can be monitored; computer screens can be captured; and sophisticated software can analyse an employee’s productivity, behaviour and patterns of work. What was once limited to a supervisor’s physical observation can now occur continuously, remotely and, in some instances, without the employee’s immediate awareness.