An Examination of Data Protection and the Right to Privacy in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry

In the world today, when looking for someone, the first thing that a person does is pick up their phone and search for the person’s name, and a lot of the time, the internet is bound to turn up something about that person. This is because everyone in this day and age belongs to at least one social networking site due to technological advancement and numerous social networking sites. As a result of belonging to one of such social media sites, you are required to fill out a form that usually asks for personal details, which are also displayed for anyone to view when they conduct a simple internet search. With the preceding, it is easy to see that people’s data can easily be accessed not just by the sites being given personal information but also by anyone anywhere in the world. As a result, data protection and privacy are pressing issues in the digital age and one that cannot be overemphasized. A major research question in the above analysis is to what extent should a person’s data be in the public domain considering his constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy under the law especially in Nigeria? The paper adopts the doctrinal methodology by examining the various legal regimes, judicial decisions where applicable, and opinions of authors, among others. This paper, in answering this question, discussed the concept of personal data, the right to privacy under the constitution, the need for enforcement of data protection laws, and the data protection laws in existence. The paper ends with recommendations to protect the data of citizens in Nigeria.