Nigeria needs law on data sovereignty

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said recently that with the proposed reform of the electoral Act, the 2019 election may be the last “mainly manual” election in Nigeria. Law on data sovereignty is missing in the proposed electoral reform.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of INEC, has said that part of the proposed reform in the electoral system was to deepen the deployment of technology in elections in addition to the existing electronic voters’ register and accreditation.

There is a difference between manual election and electronic voting that flows on data. Nigeria does not generate data and INEC must avoid a vacuum by establishing a law on data sovereignty that will guide our future election that will rely on electronic voting and transmission of election results.

President Buhari and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu should take note that there is a gap in the proposed electoral reform between the law on data sovereignty and the deployment of technology in the electoral process, especially in the accreditation of voters, electronic voting and transmission of election results. INEC needs law on data sovereignty first before it can introduce electronic voting, electronic transmission of election results in Nigeria.

I want to appeal to President Buhari that Nigeria does not generate data but only hosts data. This is why he should be very careful when using any foreign law on data. INEC lacks the capacity to generate data and it can only host. INEC will be regulated and guided by a foreign law on data.

The proposed Electoral Act Amendment Bill lacks data sovereignty and only captured the electronic transmission of election results and the use of card readers in the future elections. The proposed Electoral Act Amendment Bill did not make provision for the problem of destructive data and hacking of local data hosting centres. The problem of destructive data and hacking of local data hosting centres is an absolute threat to the use of the card reader and e-voting in future elections. The Electoral Act Amendment Bill must also make provision for the problem of cybercrimes.

The bill must also capture Nigeria’s current eco-system, through data hosting, which has improved significantly in the last five years. However, a sizeable number of the country’s data is currently being hosted abroad. This is clearly a cause for concern and poses potential security issues, as data hosted offshore remains subject to the laws of the country in which it is stored.

The proposed Electoral Act Amendment Bill should solve the following problems: Can local data hosting centres secure electronic voting in Nigeria? How do we prevent user data from being compromised such that hacking does not affect the process of voting or its outcome during and after elections in Nigeria?

Donald Inwalomhe, Abuja. ([email protected])