The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has urged women entrepreneurs to embed data protection in Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to build public trust.

 The NDPC National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer, Dr Vincent Olatunji,  made the call on Friday at the Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Tech Summit and Awards (WEETS) 2026 in Lagos.

Mr Olatunji, represented by the Manager, NDPC Lagos Liaison Office, Omoikhefe Ahimie, said responsible innovation required businesses to protect personal data throughout AI product lifecycles.

Speaking on ‘Protecting the Future You Are Building,’ Mr Olatunji said AI was creating opportunities for women to innovate and shape Africa’s digital economy.

He said AI could help businesses reduce operating costs, improve productivity, automate repetitive tasks, strengthen decision-making and access new markets.

Mr Olatunji, however, identified privacy breaches, surveillance, data breaches, bias, discrimination, profiling and inadequate human oversight as ethical concerns surrounding AI deployment.

 He urged innovators to understand the personal information their technologies collected, why it was collected, who could access it and how long it would be retained.

According to him, personal data includes identity and contact details, financial information, location, photographs, health information, behavioural information and online identifiers.

“Data privacy means empowering data subjects to make their own decisions about who can collect and process their data, and for what purpose,” he said.

Mr Olatunji said strong data protection could safeguard individuals, prevent breaches, strengthen consumer trust, encourage technology adoption and improve Nigerian businesses’ global competitiveness.

He said Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution guaranteed citizens’ privacy, while the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 provided the legal framework for protecting personal data.

The NDPC chief executive said Data Privacy Impact Assessments (DPIAs) were important when deploying technologies involving profiling or automated decision-making.

He urged innovators to conduct impact assessments before deployment and consider users’ vulnerabilities when designing technical and organisational safeguards for AI-powered products.

According to him, responsible AI should not be treated as a one-off certification but as a continuous governance process.

He said such a process should identify and mitigate emerging risks associated with AI systems and their use.

Mr Olatunji urged women building technology businesses to make privacy and responsible AI governance central to innovation rather than treating compliance as an afterthought.

He stated, “Let us work together to innovate responsibly, protect personal data and build technology that people can trust.”

(NAN)