1.1 PRINCIPLES
All data users must comply with the eight Data Protection Principles.
The principles define how data can be legally processed.
'Processing' includes obtaining, recording, holding, or storing information and carrying out any operations on the data, including adaptation, alteration, use, disclosure, transfer, erasure, and destruction.
i. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully.
ii. Personal data shall be held only for one or more specified and lawful purposes and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or purposes.
iii. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant, and not excessive about the purpose for which it is processed.
iv. Personal data shall be accurate and where necessary kept up to date.
v. Personal data processed for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose.
vi. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data
vii. Appropriate technical and organizational measures shall be taken against unauthorized or
unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of the data.
viii. Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or a territory outside Nigeria unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects about the processing of personal data.
• The DPA defines both personal data and sensitive personal data. Data users must ensure that the necessary conditions are satisfied for the processing of personal data and in addition that the extra, more stringent, conditions are satisfied for the processing of sensitive personal data.
• "Personal data" has a broad-ranging definition and can include not only items such as home and work address, age, telephone number and schools attended but also photographs and other images if focused on an individual and disclosing information that is biographical in a significant sense.
• "Sensitive personal data" consists of racial/ethnic origin, political opinion, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health or condition, sexual life, and criminal record.