Data Breach in Nigeria: A Case for Local Accountability

Contemporarily data protection and privacy has garnered increasing attention in recent years, majorly because data has become a ubiquitous asset in the global community, mirroring the transformation of our societies to data sharing age. Again, the regular and large-scale breaches of sensitive data around the globe have become a growing concern. In spite of these breaches and attacks, several countries of the world and organizations have not yet completely prioritized personal data protection particularly in the third world countries such as Nigeria. Thus it was on this note that this paper was set up to explore the data protection and compliance in Nigeria. The methodology was based on review of published articles, books and journals in order to draw a conclusion on the contemporary issues in data protection and compliance in Nigeria. The paper argued that the upsurge of data sharing and breaches in Nigeria is still hampered by inappropriate/inadequate data protection and privacy legislation, lack of enforcement drive, limited number of practicing professionals among others. In addition, it was observed that data protection and privacy are practically strange to the Nigerian society as data subjects are generally unaware of their privacy rights over personal data that belongs to them. The resultant effect is high level of data breaches and data privacy abuse in the country. In the light of the above, this paper concludes that it is clear that data has become a ubiquitous asset in the global community-Nigeria inclusive. Thus the paper recommends (amongst others) that there is need to strengthen the current legislation and enforcement procedures on data protection.

The issuance of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, 2019 (NDPR) and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation Implementation Framework, 2020 (NDPR Implementation Framework) was an action step in the right direction until the enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 which represents the first primary legislation on data protection and privacy in Nigeria. The Data Protection and Data Privacy Jurisprudence of the nation could be said to have begun its development with the emergence of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDPA) which also did not in its entirety invalidate the previously existing law, but rather, the co-existence of the previous regulations and laying superiority to the NDPA. The Act focuses on crucial aspects such as processing personal data, protecting data subjects' rights, establishing a Data Protection Commission, data security, cross-border data transfers, and data breach management. The NDPA is also consistent with international personal data protection good practices and, thus, will enhance Nigeria's position in the global arena, facilitate seamless data transfers and bolster collaboration with other jurisdictions.

Data has been referred to as the new oil because like oil, data when correctly collected, managed, and stored is an asset. However, like oil, data when mishandled or stored improperly can have disastrous outcomes such as the of confiden al informa on and intellectual property, etc. This jus fies the statutory interven on aimed at ensuring data protec on and privacy. In Nigeria, the issuance of the Nigeria Data Protec on Regula ons by the Na onal Informa on Technology Development Agency was a significant step in that direc on as it provided the much-needed framework for the protec on of the data privacy rights of Nigerians. Despite this milestone, there had been incessant calls by stakeholders for the crea on of a more comprehensive framework for data protec on-cue the Nigeria Data Protec on Act. This Act provides a more robust data protec on regime, adop ng some of the provisions under the NDPR as well as making some innova ons. The thrust of this ar cle is an a empt at analyzing some innova ons made under the Nigeria Data Protec on Act 2023.

Data protection and reliability are top priority issues in this digital age. With the advent of new technologies, the need to protect one's privacy is becoming of ever greater importance. The advent of information technology has created an environment where personal and organizational data can easily be assessed by anyone if they are not properly protected 2 . Besides, the undeniable fact that people's lives are now becoming woven around continuous exchange of information, and streams of data, means that data protection is gaining importance and moving to the centre of the political and institutional system 3 . Thus, most countries have taken a stance on data protection in order to enforce laws, prevent crime and adopt in diplomatic relationship 4 . Moreover, the fundamental right to protection of personal data is recognised at the universal level in various human rights instruments adopted under the aegis of the UN 5 , mostly as an extension of the right to privacy. It is an inalienable human right also guaranteed by the Nigerian. However, the growing subscription of customers to online services offered by the financial, trading and telecommunications companies in Nigeria, as well as the increasing rate of identity theft and other cyber misdemeanours have necessitated the need for data protection legislation that aligned to international standards .

Data protection in Nigeria , 2020

Man, through the ages, has significantly evolved and most of these changes, are impacts of science and technology. The 21 st century with its greatest invention, the internet, has brought about increased disclosure and dissemination of personal information or data. 1 Data is employed in scientific research, businesses management (e.g., sales data, revenue, profits, stock price), finance, governance (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, literacy rates), and in virtually every facets of human organizational activity and there is a great need to safeguard important information from compromise or loss. Nigeria, just like other climes, has faced numerous incidents of breach of data protection right. As a result of these breaches, various mechanisms have been deployed to

JLLR, 2022

The goal of this study is to discuss cybercrimes and review cybersecurity threats, with a focus on cybersecurity legislations in Nigeria that seek to protect the privacy and digital property of the Nigerian people and the country's institutions. The study's methodology includes a qualitative examination of Nigeria's present national cybersecurity laws. It explores how effective they are and interrogates the additional measures that may be needed-notably in cybersecurity and related national laws-to ensure that individuals, institutions are protected and that society and the national economy function well in the 21 st Century. Individuals have a right to privacy, so do companies and various other institutions in post-modern societies. This right varies widely across different countries across the globe. In some countries it is minimal or non-existent, in others it is hard fought for constitutional right. In order to reap the benefits of advanced technologies in the information age, personal and institutional data have to be made available to merchants, institutions and government. The benefits of advanced technologies are immense-and vital to modern economies. However, this process involves risks. Abuse of the data is a risk, and criminal abuse has become widespread.

The Nigerian Lawyers, 2019

In the contemporary world, we live in a period of rapid technological change, which is creating complex regulatory and legal issues for governments and broader community. As personal data are now the fuel that drive online commercial activities, how these data are collected, stored, used or transmitted have now become a source of concern. It is no wonder that most countries (including Nigeria) have come up with laws and regulations to meet up with the challenges posed by data management in the present day world. Several laws exist in Nigeria which border on data privacy but the basic legal framework for data protection is contained in the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation of 2019. The regulation has arguably met the pivotal objectives of a typical data protection regime. The regulation has several significance ranging from security, the economy as well as the concept of outsourcing. With the favourable approach of the Nigerian courts towards the protection of data privacy rights, it is believed that the country's prospect of becoming a pro-data protection country is not far-fetched. 1

No doubt technological innovations are here to stay as they transform the old/traditional way of transacting business and help ease the stress of our everyday life, thereby making the world a global village. This trend is also present in Nigeria, as several online driven businesses have sprung up and changed the way in which traditional business or buying and selling is being done. “Alat” by Wema bank is an example of such an innovation in the financial sector.

The concept of personal data protection is no doubt, an off-shoot of the universal human right to privacy and confidentiality. Not only has it been ingrained under Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but it has also been incorporated into most of the regional human rights conventions, charters, and treaties, except, of course, the African Charter on Human Rights (ACHR) to which Nigerian affiliates with. Despite its conspicuous absence in the ACHR, the revolution in the internet and information management technologies have prompted the African Union (AU), and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to, respectively, create Convention and Act to regulate the processing of personal data.However, Nigeria has neither incorporated these treaties nor enacted a comprehensive data protection law. At best, Nigeria has a Data Protection Regulations, a Data Protection Bill, and scattered pieces of legislation regulating specific aspects of the processing of pe...

World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews (WJARR),, 2023

Data are now valued as the new oil that powers the world economy. Globally, Big data technologies have intensified the need for Sustainable Data Governance (SDG). Significant empirical evidence from literature revealed that about 2.7 zettabytes of data now in the digital universe are being threatened by cybercrime incidents that are on the rise globally. Despite the importance of SDG and cyber security, only 67% of organizations globally deployed data governance or data intelligence solutions, while 46% including Nigeria had no formal governance strategy in place. This study highlights strategies to leverage good security measures for SDG. The authors adopted the Data Management Association (DAMA) International Guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK) (DAMA-DMBOK) as a conceptual framework for this study. The narrative review methodology was adopted, where related research findings from peer-reviewed articles are used to draw holistic findings that revealed significant information on strategies for leveraging excellent security practices within SDG for economic empowerment. Results show that data governance, a fundamental part of cyber security, ensures that the right people have the right access, while Information Security ensures that Enterprise Data is safe and locked down. Cyber security is at the core of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of organizations' data and leveraging data governance program that ensures that safe data is accessible across the organization in a controlled manner. The result of this study may increase understanding, and awareness of the need for information security to leverage SDG required for economic empowerment.