The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation 2019 and data protection in biobank research

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Background

Biobanking is a major element of modern biomedical research and has the potential of bringing solution to a number of diseases plaguing the world today. However, a characteristic of biobanking is its potential to intrude into privacy. Intrusion in biobanking occurs through the recruitment of participants and collection of their data, the methods used in processing the data and the sharing of data.¹ Thus, data acquired by the biobank could be shared with researchers in different parts of the world, sometimes far from where the data were collected. While data and sample sharing is essential to accelerating scientific discovery, it presents a number of challenges, one of which is balancing the interests of science, the scientist, and the privacy of the donor. By the nature of biobank research, when researchers require data for new purposes, the onerous task of seeking re-consent from data subjects slows the process of scientific research, yet it is critically important to maintain public trust in the scientific process by ensuring that the data subjects’ choice are protected.