TODAY
March 17, 2021
National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has ordered a data controller, Electronic Settlement Limited, to pay the sum of N5 million as fine for certain breaches on personal data entrusted to the company.
NITDA said its action was in line with the requirements of the National Data Protection Regulation, NDPR.
The agency also directed the company to conduct Data Protection Impact Assessment on some of its data-intensive applications and products.
Electronic Settlement Limited, ESL is an indigenous payments company which claims to have the capacity to revolutionise the payment industry in Nigeria.
NITDA explained that the investigative process that led to the fine, involved an analysis of the company’s applications and websites; visit to the company’s office in Lagos, review of its technical documents as submitted to the Agency and interrogation of its officials by NITDA investigation team in Abuja.
In December 2020, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) instructed mobile network service providers to deactivate, within a 2 week period, SIM cards that were not linked to National Identity Numbers (NIN). Expectedly, this decision was met with uproar from citizens because the announcement was made during the Christmas season and was asking for what was clearly an impossible feat.
Two months later, the deadline has been shifted at least twice, with 6 April 2021 set as the new deadline. Amidst all the panic and public backlash, one major question remains key, “Can the government cash the huge cheque it has just written?” x
infrastructural deficits