By Meletus EZE
There is an urgent need to sensitise Nigerians on data privacy and security, says John Odumesi, a cyber security expert.
Speaking during the 2019 Data Privacy Day, Odumesi said that people needed to know how the issue of data privacy affected them.
TBI Africa quoted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that January 28 is Data Privacy Day which was set aside to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices.
The Cybersecurity Analyst said that the purpose of Data Privacy Day was to raise awareness about the rights to personal data protection and privacy.
He said that data was becoming more valuable than ever, as people continually share more data on their connected devices, while businesses and government are collecting and using the personal information more than ever before.
”Data privacy is basically the necessity to protect personal information collected by any organisation and from unauthorised access. Such data types include: online privacy, medical privacy, financial privacy, among others.
”The challenge with data privacy is that most people are not aware enough about data privacy and protection,” Odumesi said in a statement.
He said that government should review all policies related to surveillance, interception and collection of personal data in line with international human rights standards on privacy protection.
According to him, there is the need for speedy passage of the personal information and data protection bill as well as the digital rights and freedom bill.
”Nigerian organisations should review their current privacy policy and processes in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
”The European Union (EU) GDPR regulates how the personal data of EU citizens are collected and processed.
”The regulation is relevant to Nigerian business environment. It applies to Nigerian organisations that handle personal data of EU citizens. Non-compliance with the regulation can result to severe fines,” he said.
