THE CABLE
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) says the recent policy by the central bank directing commercial banks to collect the social media handles of their customers “is not necessary”.
On Sunday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks to collect and verify social media accounts as part of their know-your-customer (KYC) procedures for permanent or occasional clients.
The financial regulator said the new directive aims to prevent financial crimes and terrorism while boosting the precision and thoroughness of customer identification.
However, in a statement on Thursday by Itunu Dosekun, NDPC’s head of media, Vincent Olatunji, the commission’s national commissioner, said data collection ought to go through due process.
Olatunji said before the establishment of the Nigerian Data Protection Act (NDPA) on June 12, indiscriminate collection of citizens’ data by the Data Controller Organisations (DCO) was not taken seriously.
He said there are prerequisite steps any data controller must take prior to the collection of data from the data subject.
The commissioner said any organisation that defaults was going against the law and causing a data breach, and as such, would attract fines.
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