Social Media Handle Request Illegal, Nigeria Data Protection Commission Tackles CBN

The National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Vincent Olatunji, says it is illegal for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to direct banks to obtain the social media handles of their customers.

According to Olatunji, the CBN and the financial institutions that the apex bank regulates have no justifiable reasons to mandate customers to provide their social media handles.

He said there are laws guiding the process of obtaining and using data in Nigeria, as enshrined in the Nigerian Data Protection Act (NDPA).

Olatunji made this known in a statement on Thursday issued by the commission’s Head of Media, Itunu Dosekun, where he questioned the purpose of the request.

Prime Business Africa previously reported that the CBN demanded the social media handles of bank customers to better identify account owners, as well as protect the banking system from being used as a channel for financial crimes and terrorism financing.

The social media handle request is one of the requirements for Know Your Customer (KYC), but it seems the reason is not convincing enough to the Data Protection Commission, hence, the NDPC said it has engaged the CBN to find out why the request was made in its Customer Due Diligence (CDD) 2023 regulations. 

“There are provisions in the law to go against any data controller be it private or government office, NGOs, hotels, because we are pro-citizens.

“The whole idea of this law is to protect the rights, the interests of Nigerians who are data subjects.

“We are already engaging with the CBN to let them know that what they have done is against the law because there are basic principles you must meet when you want to collect citizens’ data.

“There is data minimisation, meaning you don’t collect data beyond the purpose for which it was intended, purpose limitation, what purpose is it for,” Olatunji said in the statement. 

Olatunji said proper awareness is needed if the reason is of public interest and would not abuse the right of Nigerians.

Fakoyejo Olalekan

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