TINUBU ALLOCATES EFCC RECOVERED PROPERTY AS NDPC HEADQUARTER

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President Bola Tinubu has given the go–ahead to use a property that was taken back by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the Nigeria Data Protection Commission’s new main office.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, shared this information on Monday during the opening of the building in Abuja.

Tijani explained that the property was given to the commission because they were saying their increasing work and international reputation needed a proper and suitable office.

He said, “The President told us to use this property, which was recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for the NDPC.”

He described the conversion of the recovered property into a government facility as an example of returning recovered assets to productive use.

“An asset that is recovered on behalf of the Nigerian people has been returned to productive use for the protection of Nigerian people. A property once associated with the consequence of corruption is today becoming the headquarters of an institution dedicated to protecting Nigerians and strengthening trust in our digital economy”, Tijani said.

The minister said the commission had faced funding difficulties in its early years, including challenges meeting salary obligations, before the President intervened with direct financial support until the agency could generate sufficient revenue to sustain its operations.

He mentioned that Tinubu signed the Nigeria Data Protection Act not long after he started his job in 2023, which gave the commission the power to protect the privacy and personal information of Nigerians.

Tijani also said the President told various government offices to follow the country‘s data protection laws and rules.

He urged for better data protection as Nigeria’s digital economy grows, especially with more people using artificial intelligence.

He said, “As our digital economy grows, as more government services go online, as more Nigerian businesses use data to make money, and especially as artificial intelligence becomes more common in our economy and society, issues about privacy, how data is managed, trust, and using technology responsibly will become even more important.”

Earlier, Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, said the commission got approval for the property from the EFCC in July 2025, and work to fix it started in March 2026.

Olatunji said the new main building is a big change for an organization that started with very little office space and money.

He recalled that the data protection agency started with about 12 employees in February 2022 without dedicated funding, adding that he initially used personal funds to support its operations.

According to him, the agency subsequently received N50m from the National Information Technology Development Agency in September 2022 as its first major funding support.

Olatunji said the commission had since licensed 356 Data Protection Compliance Organisations, while its activities and those of the licensed firms had created more than 27,000 jobs in three years.

“Through the activities of these DPCOs and our own work, we were able to create 27,000-plus jobs within three years,” he said.

He added that the NDPC had generated over N12bn in revenue within three years, while the data privacy and protection ecosystem was worth more than N18bn.

The commissioner said more than 66,000 Nigerians had been enrolled in the agency’s virtual privacy academy, while 220 training programmes had benefited 99,370 people.

He added that the commission had established 17 data privacy clubs in universities, created 6,176 student ambassadors and reached more than 250,000 Nigerians through its engagements.

Olatunji also said representatives from 17 countries had visited Nigeria in the past two years to learn from the commission, while the NDPC had signed 28 memoranda of understanding with organisations and data protection authorities in countries including Canada, Morocco, Liberia, Kenya and Ghana.

Earlier, the NDPC’s Head of People Management and Administration, Mrs Watira Fitto, said the facility reflected the commission’s growth since its establishment.

She said the commission was better positioned to enforce compliance and safeguard Nigerians’ data rights, describing the headquarters as evidence of its expanding capacity and drive for institutional stability.

Fitto recalled that the NDPC had operated from four locations within four years. According to her, it grew from fewer than three office spaces at NITDA to about eight in Maitama and 26 in Asokoro before moving into the new facility, which has about 56 office spaces in Mbora District, Abuja.

“The new headquarters is a statement of the commission’s growing capacity and commitment to institutional stability,” she said.