Expert Urges Shift In Nigeria’s Data Strategy Amid N250bn Annual Loss

Cybersecurity expert, Victoria Ogunsanya has advocated a sweeping overhaul of Nigeria’s data protection strategy, in the face of escalating cyber threats and an annual economic toll estimated at over N250 billion.

Ogunsanya warned that, unless organisations adopt a more proactive and intelligence-driven approach to cybersecurity, the nation’s digital economy could suffer irreversible damage.

From high-profile data breaches in banking and government platforms to rising cases of ransomware and business email compromise (BEC), Nigeria is confronting a growing wave of cyberattacks targeting sensitive data. According to the Nigeria Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, these attacks are not only more frequent but increasingly sophisticated, leveraging artificial intelligence, deepfake-enabled fraud, and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS).

Ogunsanya, who is also the co-founder of TechNovelle, said, cybersecurity is no longer just a technology issue, as it is a business survival and national resilience issue. ‘Organisations must move from reactive to proactive models, embedding cybersecurity into core business strategies from day one,’ Ogunsanya averred.

She said, the traditional “perimeter-defense” approach is outdated in today’s cloud-driven, hybrid-work landscape, adding that the shift must begin with data visibility and classification, using tools like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to identify and tag sensitive information, such as Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), health records, and financial data.

“Many Nigerian firms do not even know what data they have or where it resides. You can not protect what you don’t understand. Proper classification aligned with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) is foundational,” Ogunsanya noted.

The NDPR, enforced by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), alongside CBN’s cybersecurity frameworks and NITDA’s Data Protection Impact Assessment guidelines, now place considerable compliance responsibilities on both public and private sector actors.

“The average cost of a data breach globally is now $4.45 million. IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, adding that for Nigerian SMEs and startups, even a fraction of that cost could cripple operations,” Ogunsanya said.

To bolster long-term resilience, Ogunsanya also point to the growing role of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for automated anomaly detection and rapid threat response; secure Access Service Edge (SASE) to protect cloud-based work environments and blockchain for immutable data audit trails in sectors like e-government and finance.