The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has condemned the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s to commercial banks to collect their customers’ social media handles, describing it as illegal.
The National Commissioner of NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said this in a statement issued by the Head of Media, Mr Itunu Dosekun, on Thursday in Abuja.
The CBN, had on June 26, directed banks to obtain the social media handles of customers as part of enhanced Customer Due Diligence (CDD) regulations.
According to the apex bank, the move was geared towards bolstering bank customers’ compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) provisions, while aligning with international best practices.
However, the NDPC said it was currently engaging with the CBN on the directive, stressing that there is need to adhere to fundamental principles when collecting citizens’ data.
“We are already engaging with the CBN to let them know that what they have done is against the law because there are basic principles you must meet when you want to collect citizens’ data,” he said.
“There is data minimisation, meaning you don’t collect data beyond the purpose for which it was intended, purpose limitation, what purpose it is for”, the statement read.
It was, however, noted that if the collection of the social media handles happened under public interest, which could include monitoring some transactions, there should be proper awareness among the customers. OYO NEWS