The Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa has inducted new members in a bid to enhance the size and quality of its membership. The induction held during the 32nd annual national conference, induction and investiture ceremony of the Institute in Lagos at the weekend.
It was a dual induction ceremony as new Ambassadors and Professional Members were equally admitted into the fold of the Country Chief Data Officer Ambassador (CCDOA) Nigeria Programme in an event that marked its second symposium.
The Institute inducted a total of six Honorary Fellows, 12 Professional Fellows, four Senior Professional Members, six Professional Members, one Associate Member and one Student Member.
Among the Honorary Fellows are Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly; Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abduallahi, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency; Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and Mr Hassan Dodo, Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Others are Mr Tim Akano, MD/CEO, New Horizons and Alhaji Musbau Mohammed Bashir, Founder, Mafab Communications Ltd.
As regards the CCDOA Nigeria Programme, nine Chief Data Officer Ambassadors and three Professional Members were inducted. Among the inducted Chief Data Officer Ambassadors are Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO, National Data Protection Bureau; Mrs Okafor Ifeyinwa Angela, Instructor, Nigerian Navy Centre for Education and Training Technology and Dr Abubakar Adaji, Superintendent of Customs.
In his welcome address, Ambassador (Dr) Oyedokun Oyewole, the President and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Institute said the major objective of the Institute is to facilitate promotion of data management and governance in Nigeria and the world over. Oyedokun who also doubles as the Country Chief Data Officer Ambassador for Nigeria stressed that data and information are special corporate assets that must be guarded and cherished because they are the network that binds every organisation together and are central to corporate survival, especially in this digital age.
He said it is very important for individuals, corporate organisations and government establishments to equip themselves with requisite knowledge in data management and governance in this digital age that the information and communications technology has created massive opportunities and also widened the scope of data risks and challenges.
Dr Simon Harry, Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in his keynote address tagged “Digital Transformation and Data Management: Associated Challenges, Risks and Solutions”, stressed the need to embrace digital data collection and storage as opposed to the old paper format.
Harry, who was represented by Mr Fafunmi Biyi, Head of Department of ICT, National Bureau of Statistics said digital data collection and storage facilitate immediacy of usage and prevent careless loss of data. He advised on data accuracy and said use of paper for data collection can lead to errors and inaccuracies.
Harry identified some of the challenges associated with data management as need to always retain capable professionals; lack of adequate ICT infrastructure in place for data management and governance; high renewal cost of software needed for storage, especially due to the foreign exchange rate; risk of data abuse in the digital age; concern of genuineness of data sources, etc.
The event also featured a panel discussion that examined the sub-theme of “Emerging and Future Trends in Data Governance and Management”. The session moderated by Goke Ilesanmi, Fellow of the Institute had discussants such as Amb (Dr) Fatai Salaudeen, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ijezue, Amb Amida Ibrahim and Mr Jegede Olajide who are Fellows of the Institute.
The discussants stressed the importance of effective digital data management and governance to the enhancement of the business bottomline as an organisational livewire. They advised on the need to embrace multiple cloud data storage system to guard against risk of sudden data loss. The discussants also examined other areas of the emerging and future trends in data governance and management and implored everyone to be conscious of these trends in data management and governance in the digital age.