Nine African countries convene in Abuja for data protection peer review conference
No fewer than nine African countries have commenced a peer-review exchange conference in Abuja, focusing on data protection, data sovereignty, and the management of personal data across regional borders. The
No fewer than nine African countries have commenced a peer-review exchange conference in Abuja, focusing on data protection, data sovereignty, and the management of personal data across regional borders.
The conference is designed to examine regulatory frameworks, operationalise cross-border data sharing, ensure the safety and protection of data subjects, and explore opportunities within the data ecosystem to drive economic growth.
Participating countries include The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Somalia, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya.
The week-long event, holding at the Continental Hotel in Abuja, is organised in partnership with the World Bank, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), and Smart Africa.
Delegations from the participating countries are joined by representatives of key regional organisations, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Speaking at the event, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, said the initiative would promote East-West peer learning and strengthen mechanisms for building and operationalising data protection regimes across the continent.
Olatunji described the development as a milestone for Nigeria, noting that it aligns with the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu on digital inclusion, data protection, regulatory advancement, institutional capacity building and the creation of opportunities under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Dr Olatunji said Nigeria has emerged as a global reference point in data protection and linked the feat to the country’s rapid progress in building a functional data protection ecosystem.
The NDPC boss said that effective implementation of the regulatory framework and compliance still remain challenges in Africa, despite significant growth in data protection laws.
He also identified low awareness, weak institutional capacity, and limited collaboration as key obstacles to effective enforcement.
To address these gaps, Olatunji advocated for developing indigenous technologies to support data protection processes, including breach reporting, compliance monitoring, and public awareness systems, rather than relying solely on imported solutions.
He also emphasised the need for stronger human capital development, noting that regulators must build sufficient expertise to effectively supervise increasingly complex digital ecosystems.
He called on African countries to deepen collaboration, build trust, and adopt practical measures that will ensure data protection frameworks deliver real value.
The Abuja workshop, he explained, is designed as a peer-learning platform where countries can share experiences, evaluate their systems, and develop practical implementation strategies.
He said, “The foundation of all this is trust. How do we ensure that the data of Africans and Nigerians can move across countries securely, with appropriate safeguards, and with confidence? We must also ensure that countries receiving such data have adequate standards, enforceable data privacy laws, independent data protection authorities, and strong data subject rights, to guarantee trust in the exchange of personal data across Africa.
“What we are trying to do is, first, create awareness; second, learn from one another; and third, build a robust structure for cross-border data transfer among African countries. At the same time, the continent must come together to meet global expectations, ensuring that wherever data controllers and processors operate within Africa, they can be held accountable for the data of the average Nigerian in their custody. That is the other side of the story.”
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In her remarks, Senior Counsel, Data and Trade at World Bank, Elena Gasol, said the initiative, implemented through the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA-WARDIP), is designed to address a common challenge confronting many countries: transitioning from data protection legislation to effective institutional implementation.
She noted that while several countries have enacted data protection laws, the priority is now ensuring that authorities can enforce regulations, handle complaints, and build public trust in practice.
Gasol emphasised that bringing these varied experiences together is central to the value of the exchange, as it enables countries to learn from one another and accelerate progress.
She added that the World Bank expects concrete outcomes from the programme, including a specific and measurable 90-day implementation commitment from each participating authority, tied directly to lessons from the exchange.
“Participating authorities are at different stages along this path. Some are still operationalising newly adopted legal frameworks, while others such as Nigeria, are already dealing with complex, real-world issues including compliance monitoring, enforcement actions, public awareness, and coordination with other regulators,” she said.
