The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has intensified calls for deeper regional cooperation among African regulators as the continent grapples with rapidly evolving privacy risks and regulatory gaps. This position was strongly articulated at the 7th Privacy Symposium Africa (PSA 2025), held under the theme “Redefining Privacy, Power, and Trust in Africa’s Digital Future.”
Representing the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the Head of the Commission’s Innovation Unit, Mrs. Adaobi Nwankwo, stressed that data protection in Africa has matured beyond a national concern and now stands firmly as a continental issue. Delivering the opening remarks, she noted that Africa’s accelerating digital transformation—driven by fintech adoption, mobile connectivity, AI integration, smart governance systems, and cloud-based services—has created a deeply interconnected ecosystem where data moves across borders with unprecedented speed. According to her, this new reality has exposed African countries to similar risks, similar vulnerabilities, and often the same foreign data processors, making cooperation among regulators not only logical but indispensable.
Nwankwo emphasised that the privacy challenges confronting African nations now cut across jurisdictional boundaries, rendering isolated national enforcement insufficient. She observed that millions of African citizens interact daily with platforms whose data servers are located in other countries, and whose policies are shaped by global tech conglomerates operating beyond any single nation’s regulatory authority. This, she warned, has created a situation where African users remain vulnerable unless regulators strengthen cooperation, share intelligence, coordinate enforcement actions, and ensure that organisations—especially multinational ones—are held accountable across all jurisdictions on the continent.
Her remarks set the tone for a symposium where discussions gravitated toward the persistent gaps in regulatory enforcement, the uneven development of data protection frameworks across Africa, and the challenges faced by Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) in keeping pace with the sophistication of modern digital systems. Participants underscored that trust is the currency of the digital economy, and that without a strong regulatory foundation, the continent risks stalling its digital growth and losing investor confidence.
During a high-level panel session, Nwankwo joined other leading regulators including Dr. Arnold Kavaarpuo of the Ghana Data Protection Commission, Commissioner Likando Lyuwa from Zambia’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, and Mr. Sicelo Simelane of the Eswatini Data Protection Authority. Their conversation offered a rare continental snapshot of the issues confronting regulators, from the proliferation of large-scale data breaches, to citizen rights violations, to the complex implications of algorithmic decision-making powered by artificial intelligence. They also highlighted the widening power imbalance between African consumers and global digital corporations, noting that African regulators must collectively negotiate stronger protections for their citizens in an increasingly borderless digital market.
The regulators reflected on the sobering reality that many African organisations still treat data protection as an afterthought rather than a core governance responsibility, resulting in weak compliance cultures and frequent regulatory violations. They also acknowledged the institutional challenges facing DPAs—ranging from inadequate funding to limited technical capacity—factors that often undermine effective enforcement. Despite these constraints, the panel emphasised that DPAs remain central to driving accountability, protecting citizens, and ensuring that Africa’s digital economy grows on a foundation of trust.
A strong sentiment emerged that Africa urgently needs a continental trust framework that standardises expectations, harmonises rules, and provides a unified approach to emerging risks. Such a framework, stakeholders argued, would secure cross-border data flows, strengthen investigative collaboration, and ensure that citizens enjoy consistent privacy rights regardless of where their data travels. Without this, the continent would remain dependent on external regimes such as the GDPR, which do not always align with Africa’s unique socio-economic realities.
The discussions at PSA 2025 ultimately reinforced the recognition that privacy is no longer a peripheral concern but a fundamental pillar of Africa’s digital future. As governments across the continent deepen digital identity programmes, expand e-governance platforms, and integrate AI-driven services into national systems, regulators must ensure that citizens’ rights remain protected and that trust is sustained at every layer of the digital ecosystem.
For the NDPC, the message was clear: a secure and trusted digital Africa cannot be built in silos. Only through sustained collaboration, shared expertise, and coordinated enforcement can the continent hope to manage its expanding digital footprint and protect the rights of its people in an era defined by technological convergence.