Nigeria Poised to Overhaul Data Protection Law Amid AI and Emerging Tech Surge
Nigeria is actively considering a significant reform of its personal data protection legislation to confront the evolving challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and big data. Vincent Olatunji, Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), indicated on June 19 in Abuja that the current legal framework may require updates to adequately address the rapid advancements in these emerging technologies.
Speaking at an event commemorating the third anniversary of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), Olatunji highlighted the shift in technological discourse. “We are in the era of emerging technologies,” he stated. “At that time, we could only make general references to emerging technologies, but today we can specifically mention Artificial Intelligence, robotics and big data. Ten years ago, nobody was talking about AI the way we are doing now, but today it has become central to virtually every aspect of digital transformation. We need to be more specific about what constitutes emerging technologies and provide examples because the technologies keep evolving.”
The NDPA, enacted in 2023, established a foundational legal structure for personal data protection and created the NDPC as an independent regulatory body. While the Act includes provisions for automated decision-making, the NDPC believes the existing framework is too broad to effectively govern the expanding applications of AI.
This proposed legislative review aligns with concerns previously articulated by the Nigerian government. The Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, in its national AI strategy published in September 2025, identified “regulatory uncertainty” and “bias risks” as critical weaknesses within Nigeria’s AI ecosystem. The strategy acknowledges the NDPA’s role in providing an initial regulatory basis for AI, despite not being designed specifically for it, and advocates for more targeted rules to foster AI development and deployment. Nigeria’s standing in the “data and infrastructure” pillar of Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index, which improved from 103rd in 2023 to 94th in 2024, underscores the ongoing efforts in this domain.
Commissioner Olatunji emphasised that the intended reforms are not aimed at supplanting human judgment with automated systems. “We still need the human component. We must not leave everything to artificial intelligence,” he asserted, underscoring the crucial principle of human oversight in the planned revision of the data protection law. This focus on human oversight is a key consideration for legal professionals, compliance officers, and corporate leaders navigating the integration of AI into business operations.
