Says cross-border data transfer key to AfCFTA success
Partners World Bank to host continental collaboration workshop
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Vincent Olatunji, has said that the country has emerged as a global reference point in data protection.
Olatunji, who linked the achievement to the country’s rapid progress in building a functional data protection ecosystem, stated this at a cross-regional data protection peer exchange workshop held in Abuja on Monday.
The event was organised in partnership with the World Bank and Smart Africa, bringing together regulators from across East and West Africa.
The NDPC boss said that effective implementation still remains a challenge in Africa despite significant growth in data protection laws.
He also identified low awareness, weak institutional capacity and limited collaboration as key obstacles to effective enforcement.
To address these gaps, Olatunji advocated the development of indigenous technologies to support data protection processes, including breach reporting, compliance monitoring and public awareness systems, rather than relying solely on imported solutions.
He also emphasised the need for stronger human capital development, noting that regulators must build sufficient expertise to effectively supervise increasingly complex digital ecosystems.
Olatunji urged African countries to deepen collaboration, build trust and adopt practical measures that will ensure data protection frameworks deliver real value.
The Abuja workshop, he explained, is designed as a peer-learning platform where countries can share experiences, evaluate their systems and develop practical implementation strategies.
The NC said: “The foundation of all this is trust. How do we ensure that the data of Africans and Nigerians can move across countries securely, with appropriate safeguards, and with confidence? We must also ensure that countries receiving such data have adequate standards, enforceable data privacy laws, independent data protection authorities, and strong data subject rights, to guarantee trust in the exchange of personal data across Africa.
“What we are trying to do is, first, create awareness; second, learn from one another; and third, build a robust structure for cross-border data transfer among African countries. At the same time, the continent must come together to meet global expectations, ensuring that wherever data controllers and processors operate within Africa, they can be held accountable for the data of the average Nigerian in their custody. That is the other side of the story.”
In her remarks, Senior Counsel, Data and Trade at World Bank, Elena Gasol, said the initiative, implemented through the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA-WARDIP), is designed to address a common challenge confronting many countries: transitioning from data protection legislation to effective institutional implementation.
She noted that while several countries have enacted data protection laws, the priority is now ensuring that authorities can enforce regulations, handle complaints and build public trust in practice.
Gasol emphasised that bringing these varied experiences together is central to the value of the exchange, as it enables countries to learn from one another and accelerate progress.
She added that the World Bank expects concrete outcomes from the programme, including a specific and measurable 90-day implementation commitment from each participating authority, tied directly to lessons from the exchange.
“Participating authorities are at different stages along this path. Some are still operationalising newly adopted legal frameworks, while others, such as Nigeria, are already dealing with complex, real-world issues including compliance monitoring, enforcement actions, public awareness, and coordination with other regulators,” she said.
