Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 2026 | Last Updated: March 2026 | Version 1.0

1. Who We Are

The Gazette News (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an independent digital news publication operating at https://thegazette.ng, based in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. We cover Nigerian national affairs, African continental developments, and global stories that matter to Nigerian and African readers around the world.

This Privacy Policy explains how The Gazette News collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects your personal information when you visit our website, subscribe to our newsletter, submit a tip, or otherwise interact with our content and services.

By using thegazette.ng, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

We collect information you choose to give us, including:

Your name and email address, when you subscribe to our newsletter or submit a contact or tip form
The content of messages or enquiries you submit through our contact forms
Comments you post on published articles
Any information you provide when reporting an error or submitting a correction request

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit thegazette.ng, we automatically collect certain technical data, including:

Your IP address and approximate geographic location
Browser type, version, and operating system
Device type and screen resolution
Pages you visit, time spent on each page, and navigation paths through our site
The website or source that referred you to us
Date and time of your visit
Cookie data and similar tracking information — see Section 6 for full details

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Deliver, maintain, and continually improve our news content and website experience
Respond to your enquiries, news tips, feedback, and correction requests
Send newsletters and editorial updates to subscribers — you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send
Analyse site traffic and reader behaviour through Google Analytics 4 to improve our journalism and digital platform
Serve relevant advertising through Google AdSense and authorised third-party advertising networks
Moderate reader comments to maintain community standards on our platform
Detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent activity or violations of our Terms of Use
Comply with applicable laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

We do not use your personal data for any purpose beyond those described in this policy without your prior consent.

4. Google AdSense and Third-Party Advertising

This section is required by Google AdSense Publisher Policies and must be read carefully.

The Gazette News uses Google AdSense to serve advertisements on our website. Google AdSense and other third-party vendors use cookies, including the Google DART cookie, to serve ads to readers based on their prior visits to our website and other websites on the Internet.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to thegazette.ng and other sites on the Internet.

You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting https://www.google.com/settings/ads

You may also opt out of third-party vendor use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices or, if you are located in the European Economic Area, www.youronlinechoices.eu

The Gazette News does not sell your personal data to advertisers. All advertising revenue directly supports our independent journalism operations.

5. Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how readers engage with our website. Google Analytics collects anonymised data including pages visited, session duration, traffic sources, and device information. This data is aggregated and anonymised — it does not identify you personally — and is used solely to improve our editorial content, website performance, and reader experience.

IP anonymisation is enabled on our Google Analytics configuration.

You may opt out of Google Analytics tracking at any time by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

6. Cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, remember your preferences, analyse site traffic, and deliver relevant advertising.

The types of cookies we use include:

Strictly Necessary Cookies — Required for the website to function correctly. These cannot be disabled without affecting core site functionality.
Analytics Cookies — Used to collect anonymised data about how readers use our site, via Google Analytics 4.
Advertising Cookies — Used by Google AdSense and partner networks to serve relevant advertisements based on your browsing history.
Preference Cookies — Used to remember your display preferences and consent choices.
Social Media Cookies — Set by platforms such as Facebook and Twitter/X when you interact with share buttons on our articles.

You may manage or disable cookies through your browser settings at any time. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features on thegazette.ng. For full details of the cookies we use and how to manage them, visit our Cookie Policy at https://thegazette.ng/cookie-policy/

7. How We Share Your Information

The Gazette News does not sell, trade, or rent your personal data to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

Service providers — With trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, sending newsletters, and analysing traffic, strictly for those purposes and bound by confidentiality obligations
Google — For advertising and analytics purposes as described in Sections 4 and 5 above
Legal compliance — Where required by a valid court order, subpoena, or applicable Nigerian law
Protection of rights — Where necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of The Gazette News, our journalists, or our readers

8. Third-Party Links

Our articles and website pages may contain links to external websites for journalistic reference, context, and sourcing. These links do not constitute an endorsement of those sites. The Gazette News is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or accuracy of information on any external website. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party site you visit through a link on our platform.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Gazette News is a news publication intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect, solicit, or store personal information from any person under the age of 13.

If we become aware that a child under 13 has submitted personal information to us through any form or service on our website, we will take immediate steps to delete that information from our records. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at privacy@thegazette.ng and we will investigate and act promptly.

10. Your Rights Under the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR)

The Gazette News operates in full compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019 and the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA). As a data controller, we are committed to processing your personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

Under the NDPR and NDPA, you have the following rights:

Right of Access — You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to Rectification — You may request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data
Right to Erasure — You may request the deletion of your personal data, subject to our legal obligations
Right to Object — You may object to certain types of data processing, including direct marketing
Right to Restriction — You may request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances
Right to Data Portability — You may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Right to Lodge a Complaint — You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) at www.ndpc.gov.ng if you believe we have mishandled your data

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@thegazette.ng. We will respond within 30 days as required by the NDPR.

11. Data Security

The Gazette News implements appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

HTTPS encryption across all pages of thegazette.ng
Secure hosting infrastructure
Restricted internal access to personal data on a need-to-know basis
Regular review of our security practices

No method of data transmission over the Internet is completely secure. While we take every reasonable precaution, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of data transmitted to or from our website. Any transmission is at your own risk.

12. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable Nigerian law. Specifically:

Newsletter subscriber data is retained until you unsubscribe, after which it is deleted within 30 days
Comment data is retained while the associated article remains published, unless you request removal
Contact form submissions are retained for up to 12 months for correspondence and audit purposes
Analytics data is retained in accordance with Google Analytics data retention settings, set to 14 months

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or applicable Nigerian law. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy regularly.

Your continued use of thegazette.ng after any changes to this policy are posted constitutes your acceptance of those changes.