NITDA commends Lagos revenue agency on action over breach of data protection

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commended the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), for disabling a website that breached the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).

In a statement by NITDA’s spokesperson, Hadizar Umar, on Friday, it said the illegal access of tax-payers information to the public was a glitch from a consultant of the service.

NITDA had outlined five new regulatory instruments for the improvement of the Information Communications and Technology (ICT) sector in Nigeria.

The first quarter of the regulation was launched on January 25.

The previous regulatory instruments are the Rule Making Process Regulation of NITDA; The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation; Guideline for IT Clearance; Guidelines for Public Internet Access and Framework for Use of Social Media in Public Institutions.

The regulatory instruments are expected to promote indigenous innovations. They will also address various challenges facing Nigeria towards effective ICT adoption

Read the full statement below

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was reliably informed and duly ascertained that the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (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 in breach of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), 2019.

We have also been informed that the 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.

We commend LIRS for the swift remedial action in disabling the portal and pulling the website away from the public domain.

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.

We stress that such glitches are in breach of the NDPR and invariably the National Information Technology Development Agency Act 2007.

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.

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.

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