By Sylvia Emmanuel Uzoh esq
INTRODUCTION:
The cross border nature of the internet has made it difficult to confine data processing to a specific geographical border. In attestation to this fact, the National Information Technology Data Agency (NITDA) like the Biblical John the Baptist, forewarned Nigerians on the probable impact of the forthcoming European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation on Nigerian businesses which according to Techpoint Africa, will include airlines, banks, hotels, fintech companies, digital advertising agencies amongst others. Three months later, the EU implemented the Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regards to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. A landmark regulation that has been hailed as one of the legacies of the century and on the flipside has been jested to be as broad enough to cover Sancta Claus. In a year since the adoption of the GDPR, European data protection agencies have issued fines totaling –56 million from more than 200,000 reported cases . With the GDPR’s emphasis on strict compliance and its punitive sanctions it is safe to observe its provisions and find out if its long arms were wide enough to embrace Nigerian businesses.
Sylvia Emmanuel Uzoh is an Associate at Adekunle Sulaiman & Co. (Legal Practitioners) Ogun State and A graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
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