LCCI Seeks High Standards of Data Protection for Businesses 

The president of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Michael Olawale-Cole emphasised the chamber’s commitment to ensure that the business community and the entire Nigerians are afforded the very highest standards of data protection, especially, given the rising presence of frontier technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IOT), big data, blockchain, 5G, robotics, drones, nanotechnology, among others.

Olawale-Cole stated this at the LCCI ICT conference with the theme ‘Data Protection and the Future of Nigerian Businesses: Opportunities and Risks’ held recently in Lagos.

He also stated that “the conference theme is becoming increasingly important for the business community, policymakers, regulators and the entire public as increasingly more of our business operations and transactions are moving online.”

He noted businesses recognise that strong privacy protections give them a competitive advantage as confidence in their services increases.

He explained that in Nigeria, the ICT sector is growing faster than the other economic sectors, noting that in terms of GDP, the sector has grown significantly to become the second largest, contributing 14.8 per cent to the GDP as at the second quarter (Q2) of 2023.

Olawale-Cole noted further that, “many of the existing regulatory instruments in the digital space and in particular data protection and cybersecurity have been developed in silos. The impacts of these data protection and privacy legislation may be harmful. Hence, the need to have a comprehensive regulation, that makes it easier for investors and stakeholders to support the development of the sector.”

He, however, said: “the legislation cannot do it alone; it needs all of us in this community to play our parts; from us as regulators, our business community, our technologists, our innovators, our political leaders, and most importantly, you as individuals, because privacy and data protection are, after all, about you.”

National commissioner/chief executive officer, Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji said, careless handling of customers’ data will no longer be a forgiveable offence for banks, telecom firms and other business organisations in Nigeria, as the Commission moves to enforce the country’s data protection regulations.

He also added that firms which businesses require the obtaining and handling of citizens’ data now face heavy fines if they compromise customers’ data safety.

Other speakers at the conference emphasised the critical importance of data protection and safety. They posited that firms with weak data safety reports would not only lose a chunk of their customers, but would also have an unfavourable corporate image.