Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has issued a regulatory advisory to data controllers and processors across the country following what it described as escalating threats to Nigeria’s data security architecture.

NDPC

In a statement signed by Babatunde Bamigboye, lead of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, the commission said its technical assessment revealed that some shadowy threat actors were engaged in coordinated operations targeting financial systems and critical digital infrastructure in Nigeria.

The commission urged public institutions to comply with the presidential directive of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which emphasises the strategic importance of data in national development.

According to the NDPC, the President had declared that “data is the new oil,” stressing the need for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to rigorously capture and safeguard information in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.

The commission therefore advised all data controllers and processors to urgently strengthen their technical and organisational measures to protect personal data and ensure compliance with the law.

It listed key measures to include the appointment of trained and certified Data Protection Officers, implementation of comprehensive privacy policies and information security standards, as well as conducting Data Privacy Impact Assessments.

Other measures recommended by the NDPC include deployment of robust identity and access controls such as Multi-Factor Authentication, adoption of zero-trust security architecture, prompt remediation of system vulnerabilities, and continuous patch management.

The commission also emphasised the need to secure cloud infrastructure, application programming interfaces (APIs), databases and access credentials, alongside real-time monitoring, logging and threat detection systems.

Further recommendations include encryption and secure credential handling, regular vulnerability assessment and penetration testing of critical systems, as well as routine backup and resilience testing.

The NDPC warned that organisations that fail to implement appropriate data protection measures in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 risk legal liabilities.

It reiterated its commitment to providing regulatory support to organisations while ensuring the protection of personal data and strengthening institutional resilience across all sectors.

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has raised  alarm over a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorised access to parts of its information systems, urging users to update their login credentials as a precaution.

In a public notice yesterday, CAC, informed stakeholders that the Commission is currently reviewing the breach and assessing its potential impact.

According to the Commission, response protocols have been activated, with containment measures already in place to safeguard affected systems.

The CAC stated that it is working closely with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and other relevant government agencies and partners to determine the scope of the incident and prevent further compromise.

“Appropriate containment measures have been implemented, and additional safeguards are in place,” the Commission stated, while advising users to monitor activities on the CAC portal and remain cautious of unsolicited communications that may arise from the breach.

Reports online claim that as many as 25 million documents may have been exfiltrated from the Commission’s infrastructure.

The claims, attributed to a cybercrime-tracking account, have not been independently verified, and the CAC has not confirmed the figures or identified any perpetrators.

The development has raised fresh concerns over the security of Nigeria’s corporate registry, particularly given the Commission’s increasing reliance on digital systems.

In February 2026, the CAC disclosed that it processes up to 10,000 business registration requests daily, following the deployment of artificial intelligence across its service delivery platforms.

It also handles an average of 5,000 customer enquiries each day via emails and call centres.

Despite the breach, the Commission reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the integrity and security of its systems, assuring stakeholders that updates will be provided as investigations progress.

By Eric Gumbo, MBS

The writer is a partner at G&A Advocates LLP, a firm with two decades of experience advising on infrastructure, capital markets, and regulatory law across East Africa.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy promised the American people something that, by any rational measure, should have been impossible: that the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the decade was out.

The technology did not yet exist. What existed was the decision to begin. Six decades later, that decision is still paying forward.

On April 1, 2026, NASA’s Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four astronauts on a ten-day journey around the moon, the first crewed lunar mission in over fifty years.

It was a test flight, one rung on a ladder that future missions will continue to climb. The greatest national achievements are rarely completed in a single term. They are built incrementally, passed from one generation to the next.

Kenya is at a similar moment today. Having spent two decades advising on infrastructure and regulatory frameworks across East Africa, I have seen the pattern repeat: the countries that succeed are not those with the most resources at the outset.

They are the ones that build the strongest legal and institutional foundations beneath their ambitions. The Sovereign Wealth Fund framework is Kenya beginning to do exactly that.

The Draft Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill proposes to gather revenues from oil, minerals, privatisations, and strategic investments into a single disciplined framework. Its three purposes are clear: stabilise revenues when commodity prices fall, finance critical infrastructure, and preserve savings for future generations.

With oil reserves estimated at 560 million barrels and resource revenues projected to exceed $1.5 billion annually, Kenya is not a poor country imagining wealth. It is a resourced country deciding whether to spend that wealth on today or invest it in tomorrow.

“A sovereign wealth fund is not a savings account. It is a declaration that we believe our country’s best days are ahead, and that we intend to fund them.”

The wise farmer does not eat all the seed after the harvest. She saves enough for the next planting season, because what she holds today is not just food. It is the future.

Those entrusted with managing this fund must act not as owners, but as caretakers. Nigeria’s oil revenues once promised national transformation; five decades later, the Niger Delta remains among the most underdeveloped regions on the continent, a cautionary tale written in squandered windfalls and weak institutions.

The Santiago Principles, which the draft bill aligns with, exist precisely to prevent that story from repeating. Auditors, parliament, civil society, and the media must be empowered to scrutinise this fund as its guardians, not as obstacles to it.

Kenya is not venturing into unknown territory. Botswana built the Pula Fund from diamond revenues and transformed one of Africa’s smallest economies into one of its most stable. Ghana’s Petroleum Funds have cushioned oil shocks and preserved a heritage for future generations.

Both succeeded not because they struck lucky, but because they built the governance architecture to protect what they found.

From M-Pesa to the 2010 Constitution, Kenya has a documented history of building things others eventually copy. The Sovereign Wealth Fund is the next chapter.

But it must be written with discipline and institutional independence that outlasts any single administration. Visible returns, better hospitals, more schools, jobs funded by resource revenues rather than donor goodwill, are what will determine whether ordinary Kenyans trust this fund across generations.

When we extract minerals from Kenyan soil today, coal from Kitui, rare earth elements from Kwale, gold from Migori, we are drawing down on a balance sheet that does not belong to us alone. It belongs to the Kenyan who will be born twenty years from now, who never had a vote in how we used her inheritance.

As Xi Jinping has put it: “We must act on the responsibility to our ancestors, our generation, and those yet to come.” The Sovereign Wealth Fund is how Kenya answers that responsibility. Not with words, but with architecture that lasts.