Introduction: The processing of information across national borders raises questions on data collection, processing, storage and distribution. This pose concern on security and breach of privacy.

Policy Considerations

    i.            Cross border trade is an innovation that challenges data localization.

  ii.            They may be processing users’ data which may contain sensitive data.

  iii.            The eCommerce providers may be holding the data in foreign jurisdictions that are not complementary to Nigeria, which could jeopardize the privacy of the data subjects.

  iv.            How does Nigeria benefit economically from these cross-border transactions?

  v.            How do we grow the data hosting sub-sector in Nigeria, in the light of cross-border transactions?

Policy Recommendations

    i.            There must be a standard classification of personal data, to identify what is sensitive and what is not.

  ii.            The country must insist that entities that collect and process critical users’ data must host their servers locally. Why local data centers might not create a significant number of jobs, they can catalyze innovations and technology transfer. For non-sensitive data, the processing must be carried out in compliance with relevant Nigeria data protection laws and regulations.

  iii.            There must be enforcement of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Country by Country Reporting Regulations 2018 to remit accruing taxes to Nigeria.

Conclusion

This is our recommendation on the rising case for Cross Border Data Governance and Data Localisation to guarantee data privacy and protection of citizens and always articulate the best ways for government of nations (Nigeria as a case study) to collect taxes accrue to government from eCommerce operations.