The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has announced that investment in the data economy is essential for any country aiming to increase its level of global competitiveness.
During his speech on the topic of 'Positioning West Africa's Digital Economy for the Future', Pantami made this claim during the inaugural meeting of the Digital Economy Regional Conference.
“In the fourth industrial revolution, data is key, the future is data and Nigeria must not lag behind.
“Today, it is a global best practice to have a data protection law in place, otherwise you will find it difficult to attract so many interventions that are of benefit to your country.
“Even potential investors may ask questions to know whether you have data protection laws in your country or not?”
“If you don’t have any data protection law in place, they will feel uncomfortable to invest because today, data is critical.
“Whenever we engage with potential investors, we try to convince them of the need to come to Nigeria to invest, and they always ask if we have a data protection law.
“But we have subsidiary law. Many of them do agree with subsidiary law, at the same time, many disagree that subsidiary law is insufficient for them, but in Nigeria it is sufficient,” Pantami urged.
He stated that his ministry had proposed to President Muhammadu Buhari the creation of a fully functional data protection institution as well as the main legislation for data protection-related issues in Nigeria and had subsequently received approval for the creation of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).
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