By Gbenga Sodeinde
As part of his preparation to assume office in June, newly elected member, House of Representatives for Ekiti North Constituency 1, Hon Akin Rotimi has started meeting with prominent Ikole and Oye Local Governments indigenes in the public and civic sectors based in Abuja, with a view to forging a strong network and support base, to accelerate the upliftment of his people.
Akin Rotimi whose belief and conviction was based on the fact that, “together, we are greater than the sum of our individual contributions”, disclosed that he will convene a town hall of such distinguished personalities in Abuja, where the people will familiaise, and share their vision, and determine ways in which they can support his vision towards the development of his people which he vowed to prioritize.
“On assumption of office, we will convene a town hall of such distinguished personalities in Abuja, to familiaise, share our vision, and determine ways in which they can support our work”. He added.
He therefore urged his people to feel free to suggest or recommend such people to him so that he could follow up and work with them towards achieving the desired goal. “Please recommend any such people you think I should be engaging”.
Akin Rotimi disclosed that among such personalities he has started meeting for this purpose is Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), who is principally responsible for ensuring safety in the ICT sector in Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million people, and over 104 million internet users.
“The Ikole Ekiti-born Dr. Olatunji has vast experience of government operations, having worked for over 30 years in the Public Sector. He joined the public service as a Research Officer 2 under the Federal Urban Mass Transit Agency.
“He then moved to NITDA in 2002, and started the Planning Research and Statistics Department of NITDA. He was previously the chairman of the Data Protection Implementation Committee, and also the Chairman of NITDA Issued Regulatory Instruments Compliance and Enforcement Committee.
“He oversaw a process that has produced the following: Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) in January, 2019; NDPR Implementation Framework, 2020; the first Data Protection Regulation Performance Report for Nigeria, detailing achievements, challenges and opportunities for the future; various awareness and sensitization workshops and seminars on the NDPR; licensed 103 Data Protection Compliance Organisations; the Guidelines on the Use of Personal Data by Public Institutions; generated over 8000 jobs within two years, over 4 Billion Naira for sector players and over 100 Million Naira revenue for the Federal Government.
“Olatunji obtained a Ph.D in Geography and Planning from the University of Lagos. He also has an advanced diploma in Computer science, a Certified Public-Private Partnership Strategist and a Certified Data Protection Officer.”