The House of Representatives has mandated it Committees on Telecommunication; Banking and Currency to “look into the cases of people who have fallen victims to breach of their privacy and identity theft to identify inadequacies in the relevant regulatory frameworks.”
The committee is to proffer solutions and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
This was based on a motion unanimously adopted by lawmakers at the plenary session on Wednesday, titled ‘Need to protect Telephone Subscribers from Breach of Privacy, Fraud and Loss of Money.’
Moving the motion, Steve Fatoba noted that by standard practice, telephone numbers and email addresses are usually required to open a bank account.
He stressed that the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation seeks to safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy and foster safe conduct for transactions involving the exchange of personal data, among others.
He said; “The House is concerned that in spite of the regulatory frameworks in existence, the occurrence of a breach of privacy, cases of fraud and consequently financial losses are on the increase.
“The House is also concerned that many Nigerians have fallen victims to illegal and unauthorised deductions of funds from their bank accounts because their financial institutions keep sending their bank account transaction details to their hitherto phone numbers, which have been reassigned to new subscribers, thus opening a dangerous window for fraudulent activities.”
