By Lucas Ajanaku
A DATA Protection Compliance Organisation (DCPO), DSPL, at the weekend, warned businesses and organisations to take the protection of their data serious because the technology tools to do that are scarce in the industry.
The company, which is recently a licencee of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), to help in the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), said there is no technology in the country to make sure that people’s data are not being abused.
Its Chief Executive Officer of DSPL, Mr. Tunde Balogun, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, said the firm would deploy technology in monitoring data protection compliance in the country and also raise awareness to ensure that everybody is aware of its rights with regard to data.
“We are working towards having technology tools that would be used to monitor all data. The tool is very fundamental, it might sound very lightly but it’s a challenge because there is no technology tool out there in the market for now but we are going to get it and deploy it,” he said.
Balogun added that DSPL would only see itself as successful in the task of data protection when everybody is aware of their rights.
“The time we can say we have become a successful data protection compliance organisation is when we know that an average Nigerian, the poorest Nigerian in any region of the country understands their data protection rights.
“So, it got nothing to do with your level of education. We are talking about that poor man in the IDP camp up to a senior manager in a company knowing that when he gives his data to any organisation, these are the obligations on them,” he said.
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Balogun, who is also the Convener of the Association of Licensed Data Protection Organisations of Nigeria (ALDAPCON), commended the efforts of the immediate past Director-General of NITDA, who is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Pantami, for coming up with the NDPR.
According to him, Piper, a non-governmental organisation that ranks data protection regulation of countries through colours, had given the NDPR Amber, which shows it’s a moderate regulation.
“In Piper’s ranking, Green is for strong regulation. Amber is for moderate, and Red is for weak regulation. NDPR was awarded Amber, which is moderate.There are some advanced countries in the world that their regulation was marked Red; countries that are more advanced than us. So, if you want to look at it, NDPR in terms of comparison to other countries’ regulation is decent,” he said.
Balogun said in terms of the structure of the implementation, the NDPR is unique in the world. “It is unique in the sense that it creates that layer of licensed firms to help organisations for implementation. There is nowhere in the world where that is done. That uniqueness is a masterstroke, very ingenious by the immediate past DG of NITDA and his team. All other African countries are now looking at our model,” he explained.
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