Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

Account information — first and last name, phone number and/or email address, password (stored hashed), gender, and confirmation status.

Benue identity — your connection to Benue (indigene, resident, diaspora, friend), LGA, ward, home LGA, community or village name, and for diaspora members country, city and chapter. Account type (individual, business, community group, institution, media, government).

Verification documents — if you request a Verified or Official badge: identity documents, photographs, registration numbers and authorisation letters you upload.

Content — posts, comments, reactions, messages, photos and videos, listings, events, fundraisers, poll votes, reports you file, and profile details you choose to add.

Usage and device data — IP address, device and browser type, app version, log data, approximate location derived from IP, and interactions with the Service (pages viewed, notifications opened).

Communications — messages you send to us, and records of confirmation codes and notifications sent to you.

2. How we use it

• To create and secure your account and confirm your contact details.
• To place you in the right LGA, ward, chapter and other communities, and to show you relevant notices, alerts, opportunities, businesses and events.
• To display your profile, badges and content to other users as described in section 3.
• To review verification requests and assign badges.
• To deliver notifications (including official alerts for your LGA) by push, SMS or email, according to your settings.
• To moderate content, investigate reports, prevent fraud, impersonation and abuse, and enforce the Terms of Use.
• To operate, maintain, measure and improve the Service, and to produce aggregate statistics (e.g. members per LGA) that do not identify you.
• To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

Our legal bases under the NDPA are performance of our contract with you, your consent (which you may withdraw), our legitimate interests in running a safe and useful service, and compliance with law.

3. What is public

BenueConnect is a community platform. The following are visible to other members and, for public communities and pages, to visitors who are not logged in: your name, profile photo and cover, your Benue identity badge (relationship, LGA, ward or home LGA and chapter), account type and verification tier, and anything you post publicly — including posts in LGA and ward communities, comments on the Public Square, business pages, marketplace listings, events, opportunities and fundraisers.

Your phone number, email address, date of birth and verification documents are never shown publicly. Your ward and community/village can be hidden from your profile in Settings → Privacy. Private messages are visible only to their participants.

4. Sharing

We do not sell personal data. We share it only:

• With service providers who process it on our behalf under contract — hosting and databases, SMS and email delivery, push notifications, media storage, analytics and payment processing.
• With other users, as described in section 3, and when you contact a business, apply for an opportunity or donate to a fundraiser (the recipient sees your profile and what you submit).
• With Official accounts only in the same way as with any other user: they see your public profile and the public questions or comments you address to them. We do not give government bodies access to your private data.
• For legal reasons — to comply with law, court orders or lawful requests from competent authorities, or to protect the rights, safety and property of users, the public or the Operator.
• In a reorganisation — if the Service is transferred to a new operator, under the same protections.

Some providers may be located outside Nigeria; where so, we ensure appropriate safeguards as required by the NDPA.

5. Retention

We keep account data for as long as your account exists. Verification documents are retained only as long as needed to decide the request and for a limited period afterwards for audit, then deleted. When you delete your account, your profile and content are removed from the Service; copies may persist in backups for up to 90 days, and we may retain limited records where required by law or to enforce our terms (e.g. records of bans).

6. Your rights and controls

Under the NDPA you may access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal data, object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent. In the app you can:

• edit your profile and Benue identity in Settings → General;
• control who sees your posts, contact details and location in Settings → Privacy;
• choose which notifications you receive in Settings → Notifications;
• block or report other users;
• download your information and delete your account from Settings.

For anything else, contact us (section 10). You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

7. Security

We protect data with encryption in transit, hashed passwords, access controls, logging and regular review. No system is perfectly secure; please keep your password private and report any suspected breach to us immediately.

8. Children

The Service is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. Users aged 13–17 require parental or guardian consent. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us and we will remove it.

9. Cookies and devices

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in, remember preferences, protect against abuse and measure usage. The mobile apps use a device identifier for push notifications. You can control cookies in your browser and notifications in your device settings; some features may not work without them.

10. Changes and contact

We may update this policy; material changes will be announced on the Service before they take effect. Questions, requests or complaints about your data: see Contact us in the Help & Trust Centre.