In a statement signed by the NITDA, Director General/Chief Information Technology Officer for Nigeria, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi today in Abuja; the Agency has announced to commence investigation.
Abdullahi stated that, it came to the notice of the agency that LIRS published a web portal –https://lagos.qpay.ng/TaxPayer – where personal information of tax payers of Lagos State was gleaned by the general public.
This, according to him, is in breach of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), 2019.
Speaking further, he noted LIRS has indicated that public access to the portal was a glitch from a consultant of the Service and that the portal has been duly disabled.
While commending LIRS for the swift remedial action in disabling the portal and pulling the website away from the public domain, NITDA DG addressed that LIRS will not be free from taking responsibility over crisis that may arise from such glitch.
“We however warn that glitches of this kind do not insulate LIRS from responsibility or culpability from whatever actions, civil or criminal, that may arise from such glitch, as personal and confidential information of data subjects were made available to the public illegally.
Abdullahi stressed that such glitches are in breach of the NDPR and invariably the National Information Technology Development Agency Act 2007.
According to him, the Agency will further investigate this breach and the circumstances surrounding it with the aim of assessing the impact of the breach as well as determine responsibility and culpability of data controllers or processors connected to the breach and prevent future occurrence.
“We also advise the public to be vigilant and to report immediately to NITDA or other law enforcement agencies if they notice that the information of any data subject on the LIRS database is further disclosed or used in any manner in violation of the NDPR.
ALSO READ: Ventra Consult moves to fill skill gaps, introduces digital credential
“We enjoin all parties to cooperate with NITDA as we seek to protect the personal and confidential information of Nigerian Citizens from misuse and abuse.
The Agency can be reached through its email address: info@nitda.gov.ng or any of NITDA’s handle on Twitter or Facebook: @NITDANigeria or https://web.facebook.com/nitda.nig/ respectively”, Abdullahi said.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is a Federal Government Agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. NITDA was established in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy as well as coordinate general IT development and regulation in the country.