The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is invoking rules and regulations on hosting government’s data, as it has successfully drawn up relevant sections of guidelines, particularly to regulate Ministries, Departments and Agencies from going offshore to host.
Dozens of countries, across every stage of development, have erected barriers to cross-border data flows, one of such is Nigeria. According to a statement signed by the Director General/ CEO of the Agency, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, he expressed the need for public and private sector organizations to patronize Nigerian Data Centers.
Hosting data and information is inevitable with the level of adoption and use of ICT in all sectors of the economy. Data is the lifeblood of the modern global economy, and as such government’s data should be accessed within platforms that can duly provide adequate security for such data, as it would protect it from unlawful access and prevent it from having total data sovereignty.
He recalled that it is necessary requirement, according to the Section 14.1 of the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT makes it mandatory for Data and Information Management Firms to “Host government data locally within the country and shall not for any reason host any government data outside the country without an express approval from NITDA”.
Also, as stated in Section 14.3 of the Guidelines, the Agency is working with local data hosting firms to set proper service level requirements and standards for data service provisioning.