Telecom
NITDA kicks off Program for National Privacy Week 2021
Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has unveiled a week long program to mark the start of the National Privacy Week 2021.
The DG in a virtual conference with members of the press explained that the purpose of the virtual press conference for the National Privacy Week is to give Nigerians an update on where NITDA is in terms of the Data Protection Regulation implementation and its projections for 2021.
Mallam Inuwa Abdullahi further gave insights into NITDA’s quest to advance Data Protection Guideline since 2013, with the sole objective of providing a basic law to guide the use of data in the digital space.
According to him,”NITDA had issued a draft Data Protection Guideline since 2013, with the objective of providing a basic law to guide the use of data in the digital space.
“However, when the EU GDPR was issued in 2016, the then Director General of NITDA, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, constituted a team to review the draft guideline in the light of global developments and also to provide Nigerians with a practicable law for its implementation.
“The team made a couple of brilliant recommendations and got necessary assistance from law firms, GDPR consultants and some multinationals that made inputs through the NITDA Rule Making process.
“After exhausting the consultative process, the Agency issued the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) on 25th January, 2019.
“The NDPR, is designed to meet the global, especially GDPR principles on data protection, and also provides unique and innovative implementation frameworks that has made it a point of reference in Africa and beyond.
“Following the issuance of the Regulation, NITDA has taken a number of steps in line with its implementation strategy”.
While giving those insights, he also reeled out NITDA’s plans to continuously lay necessary structures to deepen data protection implementation in Nigeria come 2021 and beyond.
Development of sectorial implementation toolkits- The objective here is to get sector stakeholders to agree on a single, workable template for compliance in their sector.
Standardization of NDPR courses and trainings – We shall engage vigorous and experienced Nigerian based institutions that would help us standardize and accredit data protection and information security training and certification. We hope to develop a multi-billion naira sector that would create thousands of jobs for trainers, content providers and other professionals.
We are also going to rejig our enforcement mechanism to improve compliance. COVID-19 slowed down our enforcement vision in 2020, but we are going to redouble our efforts in this direction as data protection has become a pivot for the continued growth of the digital economy.
Speaking on the activities lined up for this Special Privacy Week, Mallam Inuwa Abdullahi, said that on Tuesday 26th January 2021, NITDA will host Privacy Tech Expo.
This first of its kind program, according to him, “is conceptualized to promote Nigerian innovations around privacy and data protection.
“NITDA as an information technology regulator has a duty to ensure all regulatory efforts are infused with requisite technological support.
“We will have pitch sessions and our selected panel of experts will provide guidance on how to improve on the solutions provided.
“Privacy and Public Health Management – Lessons from COVID-19 –This webinar is crafted to discuss the privacy issues arising from COVID-19 induced processes such as contact tracing, temperature capturing, vaccine trials etc.
“The webinar is expected to dissect the issues and proffer solutions for the consideration of government and other stakeholders.
He further noted that on Wednesday 27th January 2021, NITDA will hold webinar on “NIN: Preserving Privacy; Promoting the Digital Economy.”
The webinar, according to him is designed to discuss the issues around the issuance of the National Identity Number (NIN) and its implications on privacy and the digital economy.
“The panelists are expected to draw out lessons learned and what we as a nation can do better to achieve our objectives.
While on Thursday 28th January 2021, the agency will center its discussions around the Global Privacy Day.
“This will be the grand finale of the week’s activities, and the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami would be the Chief Host and Special Guest of Honour to give a keynote address on government’s vision on data protection and the digital economy.
“The National Quiz Competition final would also hold and the students will be assessed on data protection, digital economy, information technology and general knowledge. We are hoping to showcase Africa’s next data privacy champions,” he added.
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) is planning to encourage geo-political regions that grants zero charges for ‘Right of Way’ approvals as well not implementing arbitrary charges on telecommunications base stations in their regions with zero tariff.
Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON disclosed this to Nigeria CommunincationsWeek against the backdrop of incessant closure of base stations in some states.
He said that operators believe that the way out of this arbitrary charges and high cost of RoW approvals is regional tariffs.
“Operators are advocating for a regional tariff which means that geographical regions of Nigeria where cost of doing business for telecommunications operators is extremely high will attract high tariff compared to regions where there is low operating cost.
“Our advocacy of regional tariff is not based on a particular state but on regions. As at today there are regions where we have zero cost of “Right of Way” and low cost of doing business. Tariffs should reflect on operating environment. This means that national rate plan should consider high and low cost of doing business.
“If this is implemented, in a long run we could witness some regions having zero tariff because operational cost in such regions are friendly to operators,” he said.
It would be recalled that Kogi State recently shut down some operators’ base stations on account of local levies which raises the call for discriminatory tariff among geographical locations.
AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability in industries, today announces the appointment of Sébastien Ory, 48, as EMEA VP in charge of the partner and distributor network. VP of AVEVA Southern Europe since 2022 and President of AVEVA France since 2023, Sébastien now replaces Karine Calvet while remaining President of AVEVA France.
Sébastien Ory as EMEA VP Partners & Channels, AVEVA
In this new role, he will oversee the relationships with the various stakeholders involved in the distribution of AVEVA software and will have direct responsibility for more than forty employees spread across the EMEA region. Sébastien Ory will report directly to Jesus Hernandez, the new SVP of the EMEA region, who replaces Evgeny Fedotov, now CCO of RIB.
More than 18-year career in the industry
A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris and the Institut National de l’Aéronautique (ISAE-SupAero) in Toulouse, Sebastien Ory is an active advocate for driving sustainable progress in the industrial sector.
He began his career at France Telecom as a sales manager where he stayed for 4 years before giving a more industrial dimension to his career.
With fifteen years of experience in the industrial automation industry, Sebastien Ory has developed a strategic understanding of this field. After 10 years in Schneider Electric’s industrial automation business, he led the global industrial software business development team for Schneider Electric Software from 2015 to 2018, with a particular focus on the water, power generation, mining and food industries. During these 3 years, the introduction of new software solutions will allow Schneider Electric Software to initiate and develop significant growth areas.
7 years at AVEVA
In 2018, Sébastien joined AVEVA as Vice President of the Southeast Asia region, leading a team of 200 talents in charge of delivering cloud-based industrial analytics and AI software. In addition to the growing developing the teams he leads from the Singapore headquarters, part of his energy is devoted to establishing direct engagement with leaders of major groups in the region such as Petronas, Pertamina, PTT, Wilmar and Olam, to stimulate their digital transformation initiatives.
In 2022, he took over the leadership of AVEVA’s activities in Southern Europe, a major industrial market for the company, whose customers, world leaders in the fields of Energy, Chemicals, Agri-food, Pharmaceuticals and Water, are looking for AVEVA’s expertise to accelerate and drive their digital transformation and sustainability strategies, as well as their energy transition projects. The changes he brings to the organization of the sales team are bearing fruit and allow AVEVA to acquire new customers while consolidating key accounts. As Sebastien transitions to the role of VP EMEA Partners & Channels, Dominique Bazin becomes the new Vice President of AVEVA Southern Europe.
EMEA VP Partners & Channels: a highly strategic position within AVEVA
Sébastien now holds the position of Vice President in charge of the Partners and Channels for AVEVA in Europe, Middle East and Africa, a major market for the company. His main mission is to design and implement a strategy for the growth of indirect sales, through a network of partners and strong alliances with Digital Services Companies (DSCs), AI platform providers and independent software vendors (ISVs) whose solutions are compatible with the CONNECT platform.
Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has hit back at Meta Platforms Inc, warning the tech giant that its threat to exit Nigeria will not erase its legal responsibilities or liabilities under the Nigerian law.
Meta said earlier today, May 3, that it “may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures.”
Meta’s warning came after it lost a legal bid last week to overturn a ₦220 million fine imposed by the FCCPC for violations of data protection and consumer rights laws.
Reacting to Meta’s threat, FCCPC, in a statement on Saturday, May 3, described Meta’s statement as “a calculated” move aimed at “inducing negative public reaction and potentially pressuring the FCCPC to reconsider its decision.”
FCCPC said that Meta threatening to leave Nigeria does not absolve the company of liabilities for the outcome of a judicial process.
“These infringements included denying Nigerians the right to control their personal data, transferring and sharing Nigerian user data without authorisation, discriminating against Nigerian users compared to users in other jurisdictions and abusing their dominant market position by forcing unfair privacy policies,” FCCPC wrote on X.
“Interestingly, Meta had been fined for similar breaches in Texas ($1.5b) and only recently was asked to pay $1.3 Billion for violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules.
Elsewhere in India, South Korea, France and Australia, Meta had faced varying penalties for similar breaches. But Meta never resorted to the blackmail of threatening to exit those countries. They obeyed.”
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