The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, says data protection and privacy are essential to building trust in Nigeria’s digital economy.
Speaking at the Nigeria Data Protection Commission Global Privacy 2026 press conference in Abuja, Dr Tijani said expanding digital infrastructure must go hand in hand with strong safeguards to protect citizens online.
He outlined priority projects, including ninety thousand kilometres of fibre-optic cable nationwide, nearly four thousand rural telecommunications towers, and the procurement of two new communication satellites.
“Connectivity without protection and safeguards is incomplete. As productive as the internet is, it also exposes our people, and it is our responsibility to protect them,” he said.
The minister highlighted that Nigeria’s young and highly connected population makes data protection critical, and recalled that President Bola Tinubu demonstrated this commitment by signing the Nigerian Data Protection Commission Act.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr Nadungu Gagare, said while the ministry focuses on infrastructure and innovation, data protection is ultimately about people.
He emphasised that privacy is a social contract between government, institutions, and citizens, and initiatives like the Adopt-a-School programme and interagency engagements are helping to make data protection a practical culture understood by students, citizens, and everyday Nigerians.
The National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said the country’s data privacy ecosystem is now valued at over sixteen-point-two billion naira, generating seven-point-three billion naira in government revenue in under two years.
“The commission was not created to make money, but from the beginning, sustainability was part of the design, and the foundation for that has already been laid,” he said.
Dr Olatunji added that Nigeria is now a full member of the Global Privacy Assembly, plays a leading role among African data protection authorities, and is expanding capacity building, including training one thousand data protection officers this year.
Abdullahi Lamino
