Nigerian Workers Using ChatGPT, Gemini at Work Face Data Privacy Risks Under Nigerian Law

• Nigeria’s Data Protection Act gives people safeguards against significant decisions made solely through automated processing
• AI-powered recruitment and employee monitoring may require impact assessments, human intervention and safeguards against bias
• Workers and employers should protect personal information when using AI and set clear rules for external platforms

Pascal Oparada is a journalist with Legit.ng, covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.

Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude are rapidly becoming workplace assistants, helping employees draft emails, analyse documents, summarise reports and complete other everyday tasks.

But Nigerian workers and companies may need to be more careful about how these platforms are used, particularly when personal information is uploaded, or artificial intelligence is allowed to make important decisions about employees and job applicants.

Nigeria's Data Protection Act 2023 already provides safeguards covering automated decision-making involving personal data, even though the country does not currently have a comprehensive standalone AI law.

AI cannot simply make crucial decisions

Section 37 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act gives a person the right not to be subjected to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, where the decision produces legal or similarly significant effects.

That provision could become particularly important as Nigerian companies increasingly introduce AI into recruitment and human resources.

For example, companies may deploy software to screen thousands of CVs, score applicants, monitor employees or analyse workers' performance.

Under the Act, where applicable safeguards are required, affected individuals have rights that include obtaining human intervention, expressing their point of view and contesting an automated decision, according to a report by MyBroadband.

This means employers need to think carefully before allowing algorithms alone to determine consequential employment outcomes.

Job applicants could be affected

Recruitment presents one of the clearest areas of risk.

A company receiving thousands of applications may be tempted to use AI to automatically rank candidates and eliminate applicants before a human recruiter reviews their CVs

Nigeria's regulatory framework places additional obligations around higher-risk processing.

, acco Nigeria Data Protection Commission's General Application and Implementation Directive identifies evaluation or scoring, automated decision-making with significant effects and systematic monitoring among circumstances where a Data Privacy Impact Assessment is mandatory.

The NDPC's 2026 journal also says organisations deploying emerging technologies involving personal information should consider people's rights concerning solely automated decisions and assess risks, including biased or unintended outcomes.

Be careful what you give AI

The issue goes beyond recruitment.

Employees increasingly use generative AI to analyse spreadsheets, rewrite correspondence, summarise meetings and prepare reports.

Problems can arise when workers paste customers' or colleagues' personal information into externally operated AI systems without appropriate safeguards.

The risks could be especially significant when documents contain sensitive or highly personal information.

Rather than banning AI outright, companies can establish clear rules governing which information workers are permitted to submit to external AI platforms and when additional approval or safeguards are required.

AI use comes with responsibility

For Nigerian businesses, AI offers potentially substantial productivity gains, but adopting it also creates new responsibilities.

The NDPC says its regulatory processes now include Data Privacy Impact Assessment administration and sandboxing for emerging technologies and innovative data uses, reflecting growing regulatory attention to new technologies.

For workers, the practical message is straightforward: using AI to improve routine work is different from feeding confidential or personal information into an external system.

For employers, allowing AI to influence who gets hired, promoted or otherwise subjected to a consequential workplace decision requires particular care.

CEOs warn UN Security Council of unchecked AI Power

Legit.ng earlier reported that three of the world's leading artificial intelligence executives appeared before the UN Security Council to share their views on the risks and promise of AI on September 23, 2026, with each calling for greater cooperation and restraint in how the technology is developed and deployed.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman told the UN council that AI should expand human capability rather than reduce people to passive participants in automated systems.