The 2022 Data Protection Wrap-Up (Nigeria)

In celebration of the 2023 International Data Protection Day, it is pertinent to reflect on the developments which occurred in the Nigerian data protection landscape in 2022, while also considering data privacy trends to look forward to in 2023.

The year 2022 witnessed a number of advancements in the data protection space globally and Nigeria was not left out. Highlighted below are a few of the changes which occurred in Nigeria in 2022:

• Creation of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau: The Federal Government of Nigeria created the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau ("the Data Protection Bureau" ) in February 2022 as the principal data protection regulatory body to implement the objectives of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, 2019 ("the Regulation") . The Data Protection Bureau replaces the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) which was prior to the creation of the Data Protection Bureau responsible for implementing data protection polices