The Human Side Of Data: How A Lagos Tech Pioneer Is Turning Privacy Policies Into Promises Kept
Behind every line of code running through Nigeria’s booming digital economy is an actual person. Every time a mother registers her child for school online, a graduate applies for a job through a mobile portal, or an entrepreneur opens a merchant bank account, they hand over a piece of their lives. They offer their trust, assuming their personal details will be guarded with care. Yet for years, the corporate response to that trust was largely invisible—a quiet exercise in paperwork, buried inside dense legal disclaimers and rushed, end-of-year audit folders.
Today, a homegrown effort in Lagos is reshaping that relationship. Asiri, a data privacy platform built right here in Nigeria, is working to ensure that when citizens hand over their personal information, the companies receiving it have a living, verifiable way to protect it every single day.
To Abraham Esandayinze Tanta, the Nigerian technology entrepreneur who founded Asiri, data protection was never meant to be about filing regulatory forms to dodge fines. It was always about human dignity and digital safety. Unchecked data leaks do not just harm corporate reputations; they derail real lives through financial scams, identity theft, and endless privacy invasions. Tanta built Asiri after noticing a painful gap across the local business landscape: well-meaning companies were collecting massive amounts of personal data without having any real, everyday systems to prove how that data was being looked after.
He emphasizes that compliance cannot simply be a document sitting somewhere in a company’s folder. It has to become part of how an organisation breathes and operates every day—backed by clear evidence that can be traced, verified, and trusted by the people who rely on you.
Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), businesses are legally required to respect and safeguard citizen privacy. But in practice, traditional compliance often meant self-reporting—businesses promising they were doing the right thing without any clear way to show it. Asiri changes that dynamic by turning static promises into clear, living proof.
The platform maintains a simple, real-time picture of what personal data a business holds, why they have it, and who is allowed to touch it. Crucially, the system clearly separates a company’s verbal claim from independently verified proof, quietly flagging when evidence is missing or out of date. Through a plain-language assistant named Ask Eri, everyday staff can ask simple questions about their privacy gaps and instantly find out what needs fixing before a problem occurs. Businesses can then share open, public-facing trust pages, letting their customers see firsthand how carefully their personal information is being handled.
Keeping data safe is a team effort. Asiri acts as a shared digital workspace that bridges the gap between everyday business staff and the legal experts tasked with guiding them—licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs) and Data Protection Officers (DPOs). Rather than swapping endless emails or chasing lost spreadsheets, corporate teams upload their everyday evidence directly into the platform, while compliance advisers step in to review, audit, and offer clear guidance.
Today, over twenty licensed DPCO practices and well-known Nigerian institutions—such as Finlab Nigeria, Victoria Chambers, Bisly Nigeria, Chibek, and FaithFuzion—are using the platform to safeguard customer records in line with global best practices. The goal is not to replace human wisdom or legal judgment, but to lift the administrative burden so experts can focus on what matters most: protecting people.
As Nigeria’s digital scene grows across online payments, healthcare apps, and e-commerce, building tools locally matters more than ever. By offering an accessible path forward—starting with a free tier so small businesses are never priced out of doing the right thing—Asiri is ensuring that privacy infrastructure is within reach for every company, large or small.
Ultimately, Asiri represents a deeper shift in how Nigerian innovation is measured. It is a reminder that the real value of the digital economy lies not just in how fast transactions happen, but in how deeply businesses honor and protect the human beings powering them.
