Technology: Data Protection

DATA PROTECTION IN NIGERIA

Data protection ensures important information is secured and safeguarded from issues of loss, corruption and compromise; an unauthorized loss or disclosure of important information through the violation of a security system. The challenges of data protection remain a very prevalent and perturbing issue in Nigeria today as many Nigerians are less concerned about their data as well as their property rights in data and these rights have lost their value, their very essence. Data collectors as well do not conform to their duty of ensuring the protection and privacy of data, people entrust them with. This paper seeks to discuss the laws which protect data in Nigeria, the challenges of data protection and then the exemplary solutions to this issue.

INTRODUCTION

Research shows that one of the world’s most valuable resources is data which has ing fact surpassed the position of oil formerly being so.

This shows the value of data and its importance globally. Almost all matters,activities and dealings that transpire on the internet, majorly requires the disclosure of one’s personal data, sensitive information and despite the fact that data privacy terms are made known to social media users, it does not prevent or make it totally impracticable for these data to be used or shared to blue chip companies in some certain situations nevertheless.

This makes the data owners prone to the risk of having their personal information being shared or sold to these companies. Statistics show that over 40% of people globally, feel they have little or no control over their personal data and information.

Some top companies such as; Facebook, Sacramento Bee,Uber, also experienced some casualties which brought about the loss of personal data and information of their users to criminals.

These companies failed to pass information to their customers, notifying them about these violations in order to further enable them to protect their data rights. These violations show how users should make data security their priority and responsibility as well as improvement on data security and protection over the data we share.

DATA PROTECTION LAWS IN NIGERIA

The challenges associated with data protection in Nigeria, which are so very rampant, has brought about the need for data protection laws and regulation to effectively curb these challenges.

The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation of 2019(NDPR) is one of Nigeria’s core data protection legislations and it ensures the protection and regulation of data and information across the world.5 Another comprehensive framework for data protection is the National Information and Technology Agency(NITDA) which was made pursuant to the NITDA act. It was issued on the 25th of January,2019, under section 32 of the NITDA Act. 6The act enables the NITDA legislation to issue guidelines which will surveil the exchange of data on the internet. NITDA developed and brought about the NDPR. The creation of the NDPR, sent waves across Nigeria, by regulating the activities of companies and entities that have access to people's data and personal information. It also regulates the process of collating these data/information to ensure adequate protection of privacy.

The NDPR ensures the compliance of data collectors or data processors by mandating that they take note of important factors which protect and ensure the privacy of their customers.

These factors include; Data controllers must legally acquire the consent of their customers before accessing said information, it also directs that all Data processors/collectors who process personal data of over 1000 subjects within a span of 6 months and 2000 subjects within a duration of 12 months must provide an Audit Report to NITDA before the 15th of March every year, the establishment of organizations that ensures the compliance of Data collectors, amongst many others.

THE CHALLENGE AFFILIATED WITH DATA PROTECTION

Having laws is one thing but ensuring compliance is another.

The major, if not only problem facing Data protection in Nigeria is ignorance. Due to the lack of awareness or adequate information provided to the general public concerning how their personal data is being used, the public has no idea on how to ensure the protection of their personal data and truth be told they are unbothered as long as their socio-economic and physical activities progress undisturbed. This has led to various loopholes in the protection of their personal data, thereby leading to exploitation by companies or entities who they had entrusted with said information.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To effectively curb or control the exploitation of personal data by companies, adequate awareness should be created to highlight the importance of ensuring that their personal information is properly used and insured against exploitation or leaks.

The public should ensure to properly read through articles highlighting the Terms and Conditions of whichever company or application that they sign up for so that they can understand the scope and capacity in which their data is being used.

In the event of data mining by criminals, companies should ensure the protection of their users' personal data by annually updating their firewalls and protection systems, they should keep up to date with the progression on the internet on data mining and effectively ensure that they are not rendered vulnerable to cyber attacks. In the event of breach, these companies should ensure that their users are promptly notified of said breach so that they can immediately and effectively protect themselves from further invasion. This will alleviate liability to the companies and ensure maximum protection for its users.