Firm Task FG on Review of Nigeria’s Data Storage Industry

Gilbert Ekugbe

One of the leading cloud and network outfit solutions outfit, Layer3, has called on the federal government to review laws regulating the nation’s data storage industry.

The move, according to the firm, is apt considering the ongoing global dynamics with particular reference to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, adding that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in recent years had continued to push for private and public sector organisations to have their data reside within the country’s borders.

 In a statement issued to THISDAY and signed by the Chief Sales Officer, Layer3, Mrs. Theresa Adeyinka, said given the dangers that are associated with holding data abroad, it is only logical and vital to have businesses host their data locally.

“This move comes with several benefits. It keeps data within the reach of the entities that generate and own it. It maintains data in areas under the jurisdiction of Nigerian law, which Nigerian businesses and public sector agencies are more conversant with. Ultimately, this also saves the country a significant amount of foreign exchange, which would otherwise have been lost in payments to foreign cloud service providers,” she added.

Speaking on the dangers of having data stored in another territory, she said poses all sorts of security concerns, pointing out that organisations whose data are hosted in other countries do not have immediate access to the physical spaces in which they are kept. She stressed that as a result, these businesses are at the mercy of the data residency laws of the countries that host their data.

In her words: “In fact, a lot of this activity is enabled by physical structures and connections that may span thousands of kilometers. Unknown to the people and organisations that use cloud computing, the content—or data they engage with on cloud-based applications are stored in data centers located in far-off countries. When people upload and download content on their devices, they are actually sending and receiving data to and from storage locations, all linked by a network of physical exchange points and (sometimes) undersea cables that run over vast regions.”