IM-Africa Advocates for Information Protection, Privacy Law

Institute of Information Management – Africa (IIM-Africa), has called for the enactment of information protection and privacy law in Nigeria to aid individuals and organizations in proper management and security of information at their disposal, particularly in the height of cyber threats.

Dr Oyedokun Ayodeji, president and chairman, Governing Council at IIM-Africa, told  Nigeria CommunicationsWeek at the weekend, in reaction to a report by the Gartner Inc. on Friday, which showed that more than half of (global) chief executive officers are willing have a senior "digital" leader role in their staff by the end of 2015.

Factors such as globalization, growth in electronic commerce, increased economic and political turbulence have drastically increased the need for intelligent electronic security and risk management.

Similarly, Gartner said that by 2017, one-third of large enterprises engaging in digital business models and activities will also have a digital risk officer (DRO) role or equivalent.

By 2020, 60 percent of digital businesses will suffer major service failures due to the inability of the IT security team to manage digital risk in new technology and use cases.

The job roles are spurred by the fact IT, operational technology (OT), the Internet of Things (IoT) and physical security technologies will have interdependencies that require a risk-based approach to governance and management.

Ayodeji, however said that, as a matter of fact, a good number of organizations in Nigeria are yet to realize the inherent risks associated with the digital space.

“You will be surprised that in the next couple of years, we might not hear or even see any organizations in Nigeria having such position on their organogram.

“As a way forward, I think Nigeria as a Country should have relevant laws like information protection and privacy in place as this would help to promote the awareness and sensitization on the various information risks. Am not even sure, if there is any law(s) in place meant to protect citizen’s information as regards usage and disclosure following the partnership agreement between Nigeria and MasterCard for the execution of the National e-ID Card.

“I think the most important initiative any concerned organisation should embark upon is education. There is need to educate users, on their roles and responsibilities. Coupled with the development of relevant policies geared toward regulating users interaction and operations,” he said.

Digital risk management (DRM) is the next evolution in enterprise risk and security for digital businesses that are expanding the scope of technologies requiring protection.

"Digital risk officers will require a mix of business acumen and understanding with sufficient technical knowledge to assess and make recommendations for appropriately addressing digital business risk," said Paul Proctor, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Many traditional security officers will change their titles to digital risk and security officers, but without material change in their scope, mandate, and skills they will not fulfill this role in its entirety."