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The National Commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, Dr Vincent Olatunji has advised Nigerians against taking loans from unregistered online platforms as some of the platforms are currently being investigated for fraudulent activities.
Olatunji said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are collaborating with the bureau to launch massive investigations against online loans providers.
He said many of the online loan platforms have no legal addresses and are not registered by the appropriate financial institutions and regulatory bodies to carry out such transactions.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Olatunji said the Bureau and some security agencies recently raided some of the addresses attached to the online loan providers, only to discover that they were fake.
“It is important Nigerians stay away from some of these online loan options or providers. What we discover is that when you take loans of N25,000 naira or N30,000 from them and you could not meet up within the stipulated periods, then they will start sending messages to people in your contacts that you are a criminal and they should avoid relating with you.
“We have raided some of their addresses, but they are fake. They are into blackmailing, stealing people’s contacts and information. Majority of them are not licensed by any financial institutions. So there is national committee that is currently investigating them together with the Consumers Protection Commission, “ Olatunji said.
He said the Bureau is saddled with the responsibility to safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy and to foster safe conduct for transactions involving the exchange of personal data among other.
According to him, successful implementation of the NDPR has led to the creation of over 8000 jobs, registration of 103 Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs) and a cumulative earning of over N4 billion in the data protection service sector.
“Currently, we have opened our portal for registration of more DPCOs. This is due to the increase in demand for data protection compliance services. Our target number is 150 DPCOs.
“This sector is central to the resilience of Nigeria data governance ecosystem. As of this moment, we have engaged with over 50 establishments at the highest level and we are cheered by the progress being recorded in this regard.
“For instance, in the health and gaming sectors, we are working on sectorial guidelines. Approximately 90 per cent of our population may have various degrees of sensitive personal data being processed in the health sector.
“Over 60 million youths are sharing personal data in the gaming industry. You will agree, therefore, that the advent of automated data processing which could have significant impact on the enjoyment of private lives has made data protection imperative,” Olatunji said.
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