The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), on Friday, organised a hackathon to float indigenous ideas for the implementation of data protection law.

The hackathon, being the first edition, was part of activities to mark National Data Privacy Week, celebrated from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 and targeted higher institutions’ undergraduates.

It was in collaboration with Nigeria Computer Society, ISACA Abuja chapter and Innov8 Tech Hub, titled “ Privacy-first Solution: Integrating Data Privacy by Design.’’

Vincent Olatunji, the national commissioner of NDPC, said the week was mapped out in line with Global Privacy Day, celebrated on Jan. 28, aimed at creating awareness, capacity building and solutions to drive development in the data privacy sector.

He recalled that the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) was signed in June 2023, and there was a need to engage in policy dialogue and look at emerging issues around the law for proper implementation.

“We are having a hackathon for the first time, and we are trying to look at indigenous solutions that can address some of the challenges in implementing the law.

“We are looking at challenges in terms of the law itself, investigations, reporting, self-assessment, evaluating the applications from the hackathon, see if they are in compliance with the data privacy standards.’’

Mr Olatunji expressed excitement over the level of performance from the students, saying that the efforts of the government in educating people on data protection are manifesting.

He said the winner of the hackathon would be announced at the anniversary dinner and awards night of the commission on Feb. 4.

”We will take them up, look for where to incubate them, work with them in a way it will be beneficial to them and the government.

“From there, their solutions can become global brands that address the issue of privacy globally and that is the level we are trying to take them to,’’ he said.

On the level of data privacy compliance, Mr Olatunji said it was a continuous process, adding that data privacy compliance among public institutions is getting better over the years.

Chidera Ike-Okonkwo, the head of innovation at NDPC, said the hackathon was designed to engage the students in a competition that challenges them on privacy-enhancing technologies to develop the sector.

Mrs Ike-Okonkwo said the competition began on Jan. 8, with over 100 applications received across the country.

She said after the selection process, three teams emerged for the final competition, where they pitched their solutions and the security infrastructure behind their solution.

“We are really impressed about the performance because we had so many people who applied for the competition and they came up with brilliant project ideas,’’ she said.

Halleluyah Oludele, team lead for Privalon, one of the hackathon groups, said they presented “ChainVote Solution’’, a solution that was targeted at solving the problem of identity management in the voting system.

Ms Oludele said they were motivated to work on the project because the solution could be applied in any sector by decentralisation of data.

One of the judges for the hackathon, Favour Femi-Oyewole, group CISO/Data protection officer of Access Bank, said the diversity among the students projected the niche data protection ecosystem could provide for anyone.

According to her, our university students are vested with a lot of knowledge that the government and private sectors can tap into.

“I want to see more of this competition where university students are exposed to it and suggest ways we can leverage and move forward in the country.’’

The three teams consisted of Nile University students- Team Cognito, comprising students from Mechatronics, and Software Departments, University of Abuja students- Team Liitee, made up of Sociology students.

The third group was students from the University of Ibadan- Team Privalon, which consisted of medical science and computer science students.

The winner of the hackathon would be announced at the anniversary dinner and award night of NDPC on Feb. 4

The prizes would be N750,000 for the first position, N500,000 for the second position and N250,000 for the third position.

(NAN)