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The transformational value of data in today’s world cannot be overemphasised. The right to data privacy and protection is an internationally guaranteed right, which enjoys protection universally.

Data protection is the process of safeguarding important information from corruption, compromise or loss. The importance of data protection increases as the amount of data created and stored continues to grow. Consequently, a large part of any data protection strategy is hinged on ensuring that data can be restored quickly after any corruption or loss. Protecting data from compromise and ensuring data privacy are other key components of data protection; however, where there are no laws to enforce in the event of breach, the value of those rights is lost. In order to uphold the sanctity of these rights, sovereign nations of the world put in place regulations and other mechanisms to guarantee them.

An increasing amount of data is being processed in the digital economy as a result of the new normal, this makes it vital that the appropriate data protection law is enacted to safeguard data, empower individuals to take control of their personal data, support organizations in the use of data and ensure that countries are fully prepared for the post-COVID-19 digital economy.

This was the focus of a recent awareness webinar organized by Digital Jewels with the theme: Data Protection & Achieving Compliance with National, Regional & Global Perspectives.

The virtual event which was moderated by Anthony Migui, Regional Manager East Africa for Digital Jewel, provided a platform to review the global picture, trends, patterns and regional perspectives of Data Protection.

During his presentation, the lead facilitator, Michael Oludiji Lana (Head of Frameworks at Digital Jewel), emphasized the need for organizations to develop solid data security policies and practices to help prevent serious incidents including data security breaches involving customers and employees.

He stressed that having robust data privacy policies and practices also helps avoid potential lawsuits and regulatory investigations involving data security and also provides significant reputational benefits if an organization can avoid data security incidents.

According to him, compliance with data protection laws improves the trust between businesses and their customers. It also prevents organizations from incurring expensive costs in forms of fines, litigation expenses, public embarrassment, and a bad reputation. Data protection compliance involves understanding not only a company’s policies, contracts, and legal engagements, it also requires an understanding of the company’s information technology, security, audit, and operational system.

With the increasing threat environment, organizations must know their obligations to protect customer and employee personal data, as well as understand the risk of breaching those obligations and the security measures needed to remedy any deficiencies.

Besides Nigeria, other nations in sub-Saharan Africa are following the trend of increased data protection to protect personal data of citizens. Of the 54 countries in Africa, 27 have Data Protection Legislation, 9 have draft Data Protection Legislation and 13 have no Legislation according to United Nations.

With more and more of our lives becoming digital, organizations have to take seriously data protection and privacy, but enforcement actions have to be visible and amplified by the Regulator. Digital economy has the potential to add billions to the economy if implemented correctly and enforcement of Data Privacy has a key role to play in the roadmap.

Digital Jewels Limited is a leading African focused IT Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), Consulting & Capacity Building, firm with deep competencies in Information Security, Information Assurance, Project Management, e-business and Knowledge Capacity Building; with extensive footprints in several African countries.

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