By Emma Okonji
Given the increasing rate of data in the society and the rise in the awareness of the use of data, the Institute of Information Management (IIM-Africa) has called for the establishment of a national agency on information management for Nigeria.
IIM-Africa is of the view that the human race is living in an exciting time with data and technology at the heart of many major transformational initiatives and policies, in both public and private organisations, hence the need for a national agency that will manage data information across the country. In order to develop and propagate these transformational powers of technology, the Institute believes that the primary requirements are skilled manpower, legislations, standards, and government support.
The President/Chairman, Governing Council, IIM Africa, Dr. Oyewole Ayodeji Oyedokun, who made the call for a national agency during his speech at the 2019 IIM National Summit and 23rd Induction/Investiture ceremony held in Abuja, recently, said the move became necessary to enable government control information on data usage and development in the country.
Oyedokun described IIM Africa as an exceptional international professional institute developed to promote the highest standards of excellence, integrity, competence, and research in Information Management.
Oyedokun said the Institute was out to position organisations and government in Africa to be globally competitive, leveraging on quality data and information for better decision making, lower cost of operations, prevention and mitigation of exposure to information risks, promotion of quality and timely service delivery, effective monitoring and evaluation of business processes, increase control over access to information, enable information governance among others.
“The pace of change and the challenges of the digital era means we are not only seeing new opportunities but are also facing new risks. Strong leadership, governance, and professionalism in data, information, records, document and knowledge management will be key, both to seizing opportunities and meeting the challenges ahead.
“The Institute of Information Management is strategically positioned to help both public and private organisations in Africa develop the required frameworks, tools and culture needed to build capacity.
“By improving professionalism in this essential field, as required in functions such as healthcare, finance, administration, engineering, construction, project management, procurement, IT, communications and so on.
“For any organisation to seize these emerging opportunities, and meet the evolving challenges of managing information in this rising knowledge, artificial intelligence, machine learning and information age, they would need to begin to see data and information as strategic corporate assets”.
Oyedokun added the Institute desired to develop and propagate the industry here in Africa and across the globe.
“The primary requirements for a value-driven IM Industry, however, are skilled manpower, legislations, standards, and government support of which we are working on realizing in records time”, he said, adding that the theme for the 2019 IIM National Summit, Induction/Investiture ceremony “Institutionalizing Information Management: A Key Element for Strengthening Governance and Reforming Public Institutions” is timely, following the recently introduced data privacy regulation in Nigeria.
According to him, “Creating trust online is a fundamental challenge to ensuring that the opportunities emerging in the information economy can be fully leveraged. The handling of data and information is a central component in this context. In today’s digital world, personal data are the fuel that drives much commercial activity online. However, how this data is used has raised concerns regarding privacy and the security of information.
“For these to be mitigated, information professionals in the Industry charged with managing the information lifecycle, need to evolve and assume their rightful position, as Information Management is gross misconceived in Nigeria. Government and a good number of organizations are yet to regard data and information as essential corporate assets, with a clear understanding of the difference between Information Technology and Information Management (IM).”
