President Bola Tinubu has allocated a property recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) for use as its new headquarters in Abuja.
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The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this during the commissioning of the facility.
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Tijani said the allocation was made in response to the NDPC’s expanding responsibilities and its need for a permanent office that would support its growing role in Nigeria’s digital economy.
He explained that the property had previously been recovered through EFCC activities before being converted into a government facility for the NDPC. According to him, the development demonstrates how recovered assets can be converted for productive public use.
The minister also recalled the financial difficulties faced by the NDPC during its early years, noting that the agency struggled to meet some of its obligations, including salary payments, before receiving direct financial assistance from the President.
He said the support helped the commission continue its activities while working towards developing sufficient revenue to sustain its operations.
Tijani also noted that President Tinubu signed the Nigeria Data Protection Act in 2023, providing the commission with a stronger legal framework to regulate data protection and safeguard the privacy rights of Nigerians.
He added that the President subsequently directed ministries, departments and agencies to comply with the country’s data protection laws and relevant regulatory frameworks.
According to the minister, the need for effective data protection is becoming more important as Nigeria’s digital economy expands, with more public services being delivered online and businesses increasingly depending on personal data.
He also linked the growing use of artificial intelligence to the need for stronger privacy safeguards, proper data governance and responsible use of technology.
The National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, disclosed that the commission obtained approval from the EFCC to use the property in July 2025, while renovation work commenced in March 2026.
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Olatunji said the new headquarters represented a major development for the commission, which began operations in February 2022 with about 12 employees and without dedicated funding.
He recalled that he initially used personal funds to support some of the agency’s activities before the commission received ₦50 million from the National Information Technology Development Agency in September 2022.
The commissioner said the NDPC had since licensed 356 Data Protection Compliance Organisations and that the activities of the commission and the licensed organisations had helped create more than 27,000 jobs within three years.
He added that the commission had generated more than ₦12 billion in revenue during the period, while the wider data privacy and protection sector had grown to a value exceeding ₦18 billion.
Olatunji further disclosed that more than 66,000 Nigerians had enrolled in the commission’s virtual privacy academy, while 220 training programmes had reached 99,370 people.
He said the NDPC had also established 17 data privacy clubs in universities, recruited 6,176 student ambassadors and reached more than 250,000 Nigerians through its public awareness and engagement programmes.
According to him, representatives from 17 countries had visited Nigeria over the past two years to study the commission’s activities and experience in data protection regulation.
The NDPC chief executive also said the commission had entered into 28 memoranda of understanding with organisations and data protection authorities in countries including Canada, Morocco, Liberia, Kenya and Ghana.
The commission’s Head of People Management and Administration, Watira Fitto, said the new headquarters reflected the growth recorded by the NDPC since its establishment.
Fitto explained that the commission had operated from four different locations within four years, beginning with limited office space at NITDA before moving to larger facilities in Maitama and Asokoro.
She said the new building in Mbora District, Abuja, has about 56 office spaces and would provide additional room for the commission to carry out its expanding responsibilities in data protection regulation and the protection of Nigerians’ privacy rights.
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