ABSTRACT
The dire need to protect public health from the claws of the Covid-19 Pandemic, has spawned governments to undertake inevitable practices, some of which confronted the very essence of the rights of citizens to privacy, confidentiality and data protection particularly in the public-health sector. For instance, a lot of data are used unprecedentedly and dramatically on a large scale by governments and health-care bodies to curtail the pandemic in its track. Meanwhile, right to privacy and data protection are guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and some other legislations in Nigeria. It then becomes necessary to determine when breaches can be said to have occurred as doubts linger about the somewhat trade-off between individual privacy rights and public health that has been brushed over amid the crisis in many countries. This article examines the extent and exceptions to laws on privacy, confidentiality and data protection in Nigeria using the relevant medical lens. Most importantly, an overview is made of the curtailment of the incidence of Covid-19 in Nigeria, and its effect on the administration of privacy laws and data protection by x-raying the privacy concerns arising from the practices employed to curb the spread. This is done by identifying cases of compliance or breach and providing justification or criticism as appropriate under the extant legal framework. Attempt is also made to discuss the attendant consequences arising from the present utilitarian approach provided for by the legislative framework and which is employed by the government. The paper proffers recommendations to some of the challenges that serve as clogs in the wheels of intersection between privacy rights with the aim of curbing Covid-19 in the interest of public health.
Keywords: Privacy, Data Protection, Confidentiality, Public Health, Medical Laboratory Reports, Covid-19 Pandemic