Incorporated Trustees of Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative & Ors v National Identity Management Commission: A Milestone towards a Human Right-Based Approach to Data Protection in Nigeria

Abstract

On 24 September 2021 the Court of Appeal (CA) delivered judgment in Incorporated Trustees of Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative & Ors v National Identity Management Commission (ITDRLI& ORS v NIMC or the Case), in which the CA resolved the conflict on the status of data protection rights in Nigeria. Prior to the decision in the Case, there were conflicting decisions of high courts on whether data protection rights qualified as fundamental right to privacy in section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) (CFRN). The decision of the CA in the Case is that the fundamental right to privacy under section 37 of the CFRN includes data protection rights. This decision of the CA is a milestone in data protection in Nigeria, even though it is relatively late as conversations at the global stage have progressed beyond recognition of data protection rights as part of right to privacy, to advocating for the creation of data protection right, independent of the right to privacy. In this review, we present the facts, arguments, and decision in the Case, summarise previous conflicting decisions on the point, and make our comments on the decision of the CA in the Case, and the global trends of human right-based approach to data protection. We end the review with a conclusion.