The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ibrahim Pantami, has irrevocably stated that Nigeria’s data privacy policy cannot be compromise by any organization especially as it concerns the recent moves by the updated privacy policy of the WhatsApp messaging application.
The Minister who made the disclosure via a statement signed by his Technical Assistant on Information Technology, Dr. Femi Adeluyi, the Policy states that WhatsApp will share information about the users on their platform with their parent company (Facebook), as well as other Facebook companies.
Pantami, said: “The information includes user phone numbers, “transaction data, service-related information, information on how you interact with others (including businesses) when using our Services, mobile device information, your Internet Protocol (IP) address.”
“Furthermore, WhatsApp has indicated that users who refuse to accept their revised privacy policy risk not being able to use the service at all.”
The federal government, according to the Minister, released the Nigeria Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) in 2019 and is committed to upholding the data privacy of Nigerians.
We are also aware that the European region is exempt from the provisions of the updated policy and it is also being challenged in a number of countries, he added.
The Minister has therefore directed the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as the regulator of the information technology sector, to engage vigorously with Facebook to understand the processes, level of security of the data of Nigerian users in order to ensure that policies proposed for Nigeria strictly adhere to the provisions of NDPR.
According to him, Nigerians can be assured that the federal government will give utmost attention to the privacy of their data, in line with the NDPR and the National Digital Economy policy for a digital Nigeria.