…laments NCCP’s failure to address data localisation
The violation of the Nigerian Cloud Computing Policy by private business organisations, banks and government agencies is costing the country about $450 million annually, a cloud computing expert, Aderemi Adejumo, has said.
Adejumo, who is also the Managing Director of Cloudflex Computing Services Limited, said that lack of enforcement of the NCCP by the appropriate authorities had given room for the continued violation of the policy by players in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
He said extending the policy to the regulatory bodies in charge of the various sectors like the banks, other financial institutions and the MDAs and insisting on the local conduct of their cloud computing systems would boost the nation’s business sector.
The cloud computing expert, who stated this while speaking on a radio programme in Lagos, Financial Matters, sponsored by Fidelity Bank Plc, expressed surprise that Nigeria had continued to lose such a huge amount of foreign exchange on a yearly basis to the adoption and usage of foreign cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others which Nigerian banks, financial institutions and relevant agencies subscribe to on a regular basis.
Adejumo argued that Nigeria could not continue to lose such a humungous amount of foreign exchange to foreign lands inspite of the existence of the NCCP meant to address capital flight among other issues that retard the nation’s growth in the area of cloud computing system and services.
The cloud computing expert, however, picked holes in the implementation of the NCCP, saying that it was not addressing the core issue of data localisation as the authorities had continued to focus on only the MDAs using the cloud.
He said, “Cloud computing has no boundaries, it has no borders. I believe that here in Nigeria, Cloud computing is worth about $500 million a year, and 90% of that is actually spent outside Nigeria, that is the biggest challenge we have.
“NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) at a time had the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (Isa Pantami) as its DG, and under his leadership, they created what was called Nigerian Cloud Computing Policy (NCCP), but it wasn’t enforced.
“Also, my criticism about the policy is that it doesn’t address the core issue and the core issue is data localisation. What I mean by that is that their focus is MDAs using the cloud; that was their focus. But not the localisation of data and I say If you take the industries that are being regulated or affiliated to the Nigerian authorities, you have got CBN, PenCom, NAICOM, NNPC; so anybody that is related to that should be under those laws and jurisdiction because they are related to Nigerian economic success.”
Adejumo further said, “Let’s say $500 million is being sent out of the country rather than being spent within the country, and this is so, because if you are on Cloudflex, you pay in Naira but if you are on AWS (Amazon Web Services), you pay in Dollars. So, that precious resources that are going out could be avoided.
“So, that is core and the biggest issue. For me, it is great that you have former DG of NITDA, who has the great understanding now as the Minister; so, greater powers and wider responsibilities. I know there is a lot they are trying to do because they have many issues with right of way, issue of connectivity, issue of improving things and cloud computing is one aspect of it. It is interwoven and if you succeed with this, you will then succeed with other things.
“But I believe that what is really needed is enforcement of Nigerian Cloud Computing Policy, extend it to the regulatory industries which cover the banks, all financial institutions and all that, that they must be in Nigeria and not outside Nigeria and I think that will be a boom for Nigerian businesses.”