Inadequate data protection regimes in Africa

DATA privacy as explained by Wikipedia “is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy and the legal and political issues surrounding them.” It explains further that “privacy concerns exist wherever personally identifiable information or other sensitive information is collected, stored, used, and finally destroyed or deleted – in digital form or otherwise. Improper or non-existent disclosure control can be the root cause for privacy issues.” After the Facebook Cambridge Analytical scandal, a lot of attention was drawn to data privacy and protection globally, increasing the level of awareness on data privacy issue.

The situation in Africa is a bit different where data protection framework remains inadequate. Kenya, for instance, has an estimate of about 8.5 million people using Facebook on a monthly basis, yet has no meaningful data protection laws.

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In sub-Saharan Africa, about 123 million people are estimated to access social networks like Facebook monthly. However, many Africans have little or no recourse if a data breach occurs because often regulatory safeguards don’t exist.  Privacy groups believe African governments are deliberate on this issue because they have vested interest, hence the non-existent laws making it easy to use citizens’ data for their interest.

It is in the light of the above that experts have continuously lamented the danger of lack of adequate data protection, just as they call for reforms. One of such experts Tunji Olaopa, stated that “required policies and laws in place to address concerns such as data protection, intellectual property and patent, online security are virtually non-existent”. Obi Ugochukwu in his reaction to the current legal frame work on data privacy legislation noted that the data protection framework in Nigeria remains largely inadequate. The Cambridge Analytica scandal further exposed the dangers of inadequate data privacy legislation.

Careless data privacy laws could therefore endanger one of the most important ideals of the modern world democracy. The risks are therefore glaring. Inadequate data privacy legislation poses a plethora of unsavoury risks to individuals, organisations and countries alike.

Another expert, David Oluranti, explained that “Aside Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution (1999) which provides that “The privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications are hereby guaranteed and protected.” Unfortunately, there is currently no comprehensive data privacy or personal information protection law in Nigeria that sets out detailed provisions on the protection of the privacy of individuals and citizens.

This calls for the passing of a law dealing specifically with issues of data privacy and the protection of the Nigerian citizen’s private information

• Comfort Yakubu, greatwoye@gmail.com