Truecaller harmonises operations to suit Nigeria’s regulation —NITDA boss

Kashifu Inuwa, the director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency has said Truecaller will harmonise its operations to suit the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation.

Inuwa said this at the ongoing 39th Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, a global technology exhibition that gathers over 200,000 Information Technology interests, 145 countries on advancing technology.

The director general said this following the investigation he recalled the agency started on Truecaller’s privacy data breach on some unsuspecting Nigerians.

He recalled that the Truecaller Privacy Policy is against global laws on data protection and the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation requires data collection, processing accuracy, specific consent validity and other necessities.

According to him, the initial investigation reveals that over seven million Nigerians are active users of the Truecaller service, hence the need to create awareness on that.

He said “On investigating the Truecaller compromise on data of some Nigerians, we have gone far on that.

“They (Truecaller) have written to us to find ways to harmonise operations to comply with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation.”

He added that the TPP content comprises of two categories and have different policies for those residing in the European Economic Area and those outside the EEA, noting that Nigerians should be aware of the category they belong.

The NITDA boss said citizens could find necessary information on Truecaller operations on its website — www.truecaller.com.