Stakeholders Make Case for Data Residency in Nigeria

As part of an effort to seek for effective regulations and implementation of the Nigeria’s Local Content Policy, indigeneous Information Technology and Communications stakeholders has called for data residency adoption in Nigeria.

They made this call at the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFO) themed “Establishing Trackable Metrics for Developing Nigeria’s Indigenous Telecoms Sector” organised recently by Business Metrics.

Speaking on this, the Chief Executive Officer of Open Access Data Centre (OADC), Ayotunde Coker emphasized that promoting indigenous content transcends just manufacturing, but also data, adding that this is where data sovereignty and residency come in.

Coker noted that the country now have substantial infrastructures for people to host locally and enjoy good quality data centre services with no reason to host abroad anymore, which means that Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and Data Sovereignty can now be confidently enforced.

“Previously we had a lot of cloud services that people host elsewhere just because of practicalities. Whereas the rest of the world is doing data sovereignty to ensure their data does not leave the country and if you didn’t host your data within the country, there were data protection laws and they were enforced.”

On his part, the Executive Director, Broadbased Communications Limited, Mr. Chidi Ibisi, spoke on the need for the support of local industry players through interventionist funding windows of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to further drive policy on local content.

Focusing on the key objectives of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecom Sector, which include enabling the indigenous telecom industry to contribute significantly to the overall development of the telecom industry; creating a conducive environment for companies and service providers to participate in the telecom industry, Ibisi cited foreign intervention funds that are driving national development. He listed such foreign intervention funds to include: the USA $65 billion Broadband Fund; UK £30 Broadband expansion program; Germany $14.5 billion Digital Infrastructure Fund, among others.

Also, the Divisional CEO of ipNX Business, Segun Okuneye said the telecommunications industry is crucial to Nigeria’s economy as it is responsible for facilitating critical economic activities in the country such as e-banking, e-commerce, e-payment, e-education, e-health, e-agriculture, among others.

“Therefore, it is imperative for us to have and maintain a corporate governance code that ensures the survival of the Nigerian telecoms industry. The adoption of this in running businesses will likely improve the competitiveness, performance, growth and stability of telcos in Nigeria,” he stated.

Represented by ipNX Head of Product Management and Government, Peter Uwadone, he said in the past, poor corporate governance has led to the failure of some telecoms companies in Nigeria.

However, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta in his keynote address said NCC would continue to promote local investment in digital infrastructure and competition in the provision of accessible high speed broadband infrastructure.

Danbatta who highlighted NCC’s roadmap for implementation of the policy, said the commission established the Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS), in order to address the timely implementation of local content policy.

The EVC who was represented by deputy director at NCC and Team Lead NODITS, Babagana Digima noted that with the constitution of the NODITS, the industry should expect new guidelines and regulations bothering on indigenous content, local manufacturing of telecom equipment, outsourcing of services, construction and lease of telecoms ducts, succession planning in the telecoms sector, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility, as the need arises, Danbatta further said.

The Converner, Bayo Azeez in his opening remarks said the telecom sector remains grossly dependent on foreign inputs which at the end of every operating year result into capital flights in excess of $2.16 billion, needless to emphasise the concomitant labour flight which further put the already distressed economy at even more disadvantaged position.

“When operators have to depend solely on foreign talents, solutions, equipment and accessories, they will also have to deal with the hassle of accessing forex as one of the major problems. As such, operators suffer, customers suffer and even our dear Naira is also at a receiving end – it continues to lose value.”