While data privacy in Nigeria has been covered by the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) and the NDPR Implementation Framework, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) released new data privacy guidance in March 2025 to help clarify some of the murkier parts of existing legislation. From March 20, the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) takes effect. The NDPR has technically been repealed as a part of this change, but its principles will still work in parallel with new GAID provisions.
What changes with GAID?
As stated, the NDPA often lacked clarity, and the GAID aims to make many data privacy provisions clearer while providing guidance. The GAID will apply to the processing of personal data subjects, including those who are in Nigeria (regardless of nationality), whose data has been transferred to Nigeria, whose data has been in transit through Nigeria, or to Nigerian citizens who are not within Nigeria. These principles, which are more closely aligned with those of the much-imitated GDPR, extend beyond the provisions of the NDPA.
Data privacy in the wider African context
As of January 2025, about 65% of African countries had introduced some form of data privacy legislation, while others had draft laws under consideration. The pace at which data privacy legislation has been adopted has increased, as has been the trend internationally, showing not only that businesses on the African continent take data protection and privacy seriously but that data privacy remains a globally important issue, particularly within our globally intertwined value and supply chains and with the fluid international movement of people – and their personal data.
Ready for GAID?
Whether or not your company does much business in Africa, it is never the wrong time to check into how your consent management policies and tools support compliance with evolving data protection and privacy laws.
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