Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Uwam (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at uwam.life. We are the data controller responsible for the personal information collected through this website.

Our address is: Idu Industrial Area, Abuja, Nigeria.

For any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you may reach us at sayhi@uwam.life.

2. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to all personal information collected through uwam.life and any related communications with Uwam. It covers visitors to our website, subscribers to our newsletter, and individuals who contact us as journalists, sponsors, or volunteers.

We do not operate user accounts. No login, password, or profile is created when you interact with us.

Where the law of your jurisdiction provides additional protections — including the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or the UK GDPR — those protections apply in addition to what is set out here.

3. Information We Collect

We collect a limited and specific set of personal information, depending on how you interact with us.

Newsletter subscription

If you choose to subscribe to our newsletter, we collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• State of residence

This information is provided voluntarily. You are not required to subscribe.

Contact form (journalists, sponsors & volunteers)

If you reach out to us as a journalist, sponsor, or volunteer, we collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• A message describing your enquiry or interest

This information is used solely to respond to your message and, where relevant, to follow up on your enquiry.

Cookies & site visit data

When you visit uwam.life, we automatically collect certain information about your visit through cookies. See Section 10 for full details.

We do not collect: payment information, government identification, precise location, photographs, social media credentials, or any sensitive personal data as defined under applicable data protection law.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect only for the purposes for which it was provided:

• To send our newsletter — we use your name, email address and state of residence to deliver our newsletter and to understand the geographic reach of our readership.
• To respond to enquiries — we use your name, email address and message to respond to contact form submissions from journalists, sponsors and volunteers, and to follow up on ongoing discussions.
• To understand site traffic — we use cookie data to monitor how our website is being used, identify technical issues, and improve the visitor experience.

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making or profiling. We do not use it to serve third-party advertising.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases to process your personal information:

• Consent — for newsletter subscriptions. You subscribe by actively submitting the newsletter form. You may withdraw consent and unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link in every newsletter, or by contacting us directly.
• Legitimate interests — for contact form submissions. We have a legitimate interest in receiving and responding to enquiries from journalists, sponsors and volunteers, provided that interest does not override your rights.
• Consent — for non-essential cookies, where your consent is obtained via our cookie notice on first visit.

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, we process personal data in accordance with the lawful bases set out therein and maintain appropriate records of our processing activities.

6. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share it only in the following limited circumstances:

• Email service provider — we use a third-party email platform to send and manage our newsletter. Your name and email address are shared with this provider solely for the purpose of delivering your subscription. The provider is contractually bound to process your data only on our behalf and in accordance with applicable data protection law.
• Analytics provider — we may use a third-party analytics service that processes cookie data to help us understand site traffic. Where possible, this data is aggregated and anonymised.
• Legal requirements — we may disclose your information where required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, safety or property of Uwam or others.

No other sharing occurs. We do not share your contact form messages with parties beyond those directly involved in responding to your enquiry.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected:

• Newsletter subscriber data is retained for as long as your subscription is active. If you unsubscribe, we will remove your information from our active mailing list within a reasonable period. We may retain a record of your opt-out to ensure you are not re-added inadvertently.
• Contact form submissions are retained for as long as is necessary to address your enquiry and any reasonable follow-up period thereafter. Messages that do not progress to an ongoing relationship are deleted within 12 months of the last correspondence.
• Cookie data is retained in accordance with the lifespan of each cookie, as described in Section 10.

8. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. Our website uses HTTPS encryption to protect data in transit.

Because we collect a limited amount of personal data and do not store payment or sensitive information, our risk profile is low. Nonetheless, no method of internet transmission is completely secure. If you have reason to believe that your personal data has been compromised, please contact us at sayhi@uwam.life.

9. Your Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Access — request confirmation of whether we hold your data, and a copy of it.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Erasure — request deletion of your personal data where there is no longer a lawful basis to retain it.
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests. We will cease processing unless we have compelling grounds to continue.
• Withdraw consent — unsubscribe or withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect any prior lawful processing.
• Complaint — lodge a complaint with your data protection authority if you believe we have mishandled your data.

To exercise any of these rights, please write to us at sayhi@uwam.life. We will respond within 30 days.

• Nigeria — complaints may be submitted to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) at ndpc.gov.ng.
• European Union — you may contact your national supervisory authority.
• United Kingdom — you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

10. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

A cookie is a small text file placed on your device when you visit a website. We use cookies solely to track visits to uwam.life and understand how the site is being used. We do not use cookies to identify you personally or to serve advertising.

Cookies we use

• Strictly necessary cookies — essential for the website to function correctly (for example, remembering your cookie preference). They do not require your consent and cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies — these help us understand how many people visit our site, which pages are most visited, and how visitors move through the site. This information is collected in aggregate and is not used to identify individuals. These cookies require your consent.

Measurement that does not use cookies

Separately from the analytics cookies above, we keep a simple count of how our articles are read. This does not use cookies and does not store anything on your device. For each article we record only totals: how many times it was opened, roughly how long readers spent reading, how far down the page they reached, the general source of the visit (for example “Instagram” or “a Google search”, never the specific link), and whether the visit came from a phone or a computer.

To avoid counting the same person twice in one day, your IP address and browser description are combined into a short code using a one-way calculation. That code cannot be reversed to identify you, and the calculation changes every day, so the code recorded for you today cannot be matched with the one recorded tomorrow. Your IP address itself is never saved. We keep no record of individual visits — only the running totals for each article, month by month — which means we are unable to tell what any particular person has read. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, this measurement is switched off entirely.

Managing cookies

When you first visit uwam.life, you will be asked for your consent to analytics cookies. You may also manage or delete cookies at any time through your browser settings. Disabling cookies will not affect your ability to read or use the site.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted information to us without parental consent, please contact us at sayhi@uwam.life and we will delete that information promptly.

12. International Data Transfers

Uwam is based in Nigeria. If you are accessing uwam.life from outside Nigeria, your personal information may be transferred to and processed in Nigeria or in the country where our third-party service providers (such as our email platform or analytics provider) are located.

Where such transfers occur, we take steps to ensure that your data receives a level of protection consistent with applicable law, including through the use of appropriate contractual safeguards with our service providers.

13. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites, and encourage you to review their privacy policies before submitting any personal information.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. If we make material changes to how we handle your personal information, we will notify active newsletter subscribers by email.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your data, please reach out:

• Email — sayhi@uwam.life
• Address — Idu Industrial Area, Abuja, Nigeria

We aim to respond to all enquiries within 30 days.