The National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, Dr.

Olatunji disclosed this on Monday during an interview on Channels Television, monitored by the Daily Post.

Recall that the CBN mandated banks to obtain customers’ social media handles in its latest Due Diligence Regulations 2023 report.

Olatunji noted that the newly signed Data Protection Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to protect the privacy rights of all Nigerians.

“The whole idea of data protection law is to protect all the rights, freedom, and interests of Nigerians who are data subjects.

“We have written a letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria concerning the new regulation mandating banks to collect customers’ social media handles for identification.

“Collecting citizens’ social media handles is not necessary.

“If that will happen in the public interest, yes, there are some guidelines they must follow.

“There should be a way of informing banks’ customers on the reason for data collection.

“We will find out why the regulations came up; we will let them know the implications of the law. According to global best practices, you don’t collect more data than you need; we are going to take CBN up on this”, he stated.

On June 14, Tinubu signed the Data Protection Act to provide a legal framework for protecting individuals’ personal information.