FG Set To Share Nigerians’ Personal Data With Islamic Countries

• The decision has unsettled some Nigerians online, who said it was suspicious that a minister with a proven history of extremist views would seek to drag a secular Nigeria into an alliance of Muslim countries.

Terror-linked Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami Ali Ibrahim has signed Nigeria up for the membership of the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO), a group that is an alliance of Islamic countries.

Mr Pantami, before making the decision to join the group that includes strictly Islamic countries did not throw the matter up for public debate in Nigeria, where a virtually equal number of Muslims and Christians would have properly looked at the implication of the country’s membership before taking a decision.

However, a close look at its website, DCO said its first aim was to collect and share data across the member countries towards digital economic prosperity.

The DCO listed its member countries as the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Sultanate of Oman, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, noting that the countries were brought together because of their common “vision, strategic goals, and shared values.”

The body said it aimed to optimise “policy and regulatory frameworks to expand cross-border data flows and digital trade among DCO members.”

Other potential benefits of the group include a plan to “reduce the digital divide across the DCO” and also to “align approaches to engagement and negotiations with private sector actors.”

The DCO said the countries were brought together because of their common “vision, strategic goals, and shared values.”

Mr Pantami disclosed Nigeria’s intention to join the organisation in April, but the minister has provided little information to guide Nigerians on the benefits of the alliance.

Pantami disclosed Nigeria’s intention to join the organisation in April but did not provide further details to guide Nigerians on the benefits of the alliance.

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The decision has unsettled some Nigerians online, who said it was suspicious that a minister with a proven history of extremist views would seek to drag a secular Nigeria into an alliance of Muslim countries.

Mr Pantami’s failure to elaborate might be traceable to his role as the custodian of Nigerian’s personal data.

Recall that since late 2020, the minister has been on an aggressive push to collect personal data of Nigerians, including their biometric information for telephone lines and a national identity card.

Excerpts of the minister’s past controversial sermons included his thirst for the blood of unbelievers, a campaign to drive Christian minorities from their ancestral lands in central Nigeria, and his role at a meeting that debated assassination of a Christian governor in the Muslim-dominated northern region.

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