Senate Committee Chairman on ICT and Cyber Security, Shuaib Salisu, has announced that the National Digital Economy and E-Government Bill is currently in its final legislative stage and will soon be passed into law to provide legal backing for electronic transactions across Nigeria.

He stated this during the 20th anniversary celebration of Galaxy Backbone in Abuja.

Salisu said the proposed legislation aimed to modernise Nigeria’s legal framework by granting digital signatures and electronic records the exact legal weight as traditional paper documents.

The lawmaker noted that the Senate was simultaneously amending the Cybercrime Act to guarantee a secure environment for the digital economy, likening an unprotected digital space to a major highway left vulnerable to armed robbers.

Furthermore, Salisu warned government agencies against operating in silos, advocating a unified Digital Public Infrastructure.

He urged federal parastatals to synergise, suggesting that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) offices across all local councils be converted into digital service hubs.

He also commended Jigawa State for pioneering the foundational digital template that inspired the establishment of Galaxy Backbone 20 years ago under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, stated that Nigeria’s economic competitiveness and public service delivery depended entirely on digital technology.

He said President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” prioritises innovation to drive institutional efficiency and transparency.

SIMILARLY, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has begun steps to strengthen data protection rules for Nigeria’s hospitality and telecommunications sectors.

The move is part of broader efforts to develop sector-specific privacy frameworks tailored to industries handling large volumes of personal data.

The initiative was presented yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholder engagement on data protection and privacy frameworks covering the telecommunications, financial services and hospitality sectors.

The session brought together regulators, operators and industry experts to shape practical guidelines that translate Nigeria’s data protection law into sector-based compliance tools.

The National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, said the Commission had adopted a collaborative “co-creation” approach to rule-making rather than imposing regulations on operators.

He explained that stakeholders were involved from the drafting stage to ensure that regulations reflected the realities of each sector.

In his remarks, one of the resource persons, Rex Abitogun of Management Edge, said a uniform framework would not work because each sector would collect and process different types of personal data with different risks.

Another resource person, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola, warned about the risks of relying heavily on foreign digital platforms and cross-border data flows.

Speaking earlier, the Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations at the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Babatunde Bamigboye, said the engagement was part of efforts to strengthen privacy rights and improve compliance under Nigeria’s legal framework.