The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has urged women entrepreneurs to embed data protection in Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to build public trust.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, NDPC National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer, made the call on Friday at the Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Tech Summit and Awards (WEETS) 2026 in Lagos.
Olatunji, represented by Omoikhefe Ahimie, Manager of the NDPC Lagos Liaison Office, said responsible innovation requires businesses to protect personal data throughout AI product lifecycles.
Speaking on “Protecting the Future You Are Building,” Olatunji said AI is creating opportunities for women to innovate and shape Africa’s digital economy.
He said AI could help businesses reduce operating costs, improve productivity, automate repetitive tasks, strengthen decision-making, and access new markets.
Olatunji, however, identified privacy breaches, surveillance, data breaches, bias, discrimination, profiling, and inadequate human oversight as ethical concerns surrounding AI deployment.
He urged innovators to understand the personal information their technologies collect, why it is collected, who can access it, and how long it will be retained.
According to him, personal data includes identity and contact details, financial information, location, photographs, health information, behavioural information, and online identifiers.
“Data privacy means empowering data subjects to make their own decisions about who can collect and process their data, and for what purpose,” he said.
Olatunji said strong data protection could safeguard individuals, prevent breaches, strengthen consumer trust, encourage technology adoption, and improve Nigerian businesses’ global competitiveness.
He said Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees citizens’ privacy, while the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 provides the legal framework for protecting personal data.
The NDPC chief executive said Data Privacy Impact Assessments (DPIAs) are important when deploying technologies involving profiling or automated decision-making.
He urged innovators to conduct impact assessments before deployment and to consider users’ vulnerabilities when designing technical and organisational safeguards for AI-powered products.
According to him, responsible AI should not be treated as a one-off certification but as a continuous governance process.
He said such a process should identify and mitigate emerging risks associated with AI systems and their use.
Olatunji urged women building technology businesses to make privacy and responsible AI governance central to innovation rather than treating compliance as an afterthought.
“Let us work together to innovate responsibly, protect personal data and build technology that people can trust,” he said.
