The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) underscores the pressing demand for an additional 500,000 data protection officers in Nigeria to bridge the existing skills gap, according to Dr. Vincent Olatunji, NDPC’s National Commissioner.
In a statement made in Abuja on Monday, Dr. Olatunji welcomed the recent move by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), which instructed the unbundling of the HND Computer Science course into four specialised areas. These areas include artificial intelligence, networking and cloud computing, software and web development, and data protection.
“I am glad that this is coming at this time because it is like giving credence to what we are doing and identifying the areas we need to focus on. There is a deficit of manpower in these areas, and in an area like data protection, we need minimum of 500,000 data protection officers. The certified ones in the country are not more than 10,000, hence the dire need for experts in the area to bridge skills gap,’’ stated Olatunji.
The NDPC is actively working on establishing a platform for collaboration among trainers, pinpointing specific institutions such as universities and polytechnics for the training of data protection officers.
Highlighting the alignment of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s strategic pillars with the development of artificial intelligence, Olatunji stressed the need to update existing curricula to adhere to global best practices for increased competitiveness. He expressed the commission’s readiness to collaborate with NBTE to achieve this important goal.
The move to address the skills gap comes as the NDPC opens applications for the Code4Privacy hackathon, showcasing the commission’s commitment to fostering innovation and expertise in the data protection landscape.
