OJO: Helping Organisations Achieve Goals, Objectives

OLUWASEYI Ojo is one man that is not in competition with anybody. He runs his own race and has no desire to play the game of being better than others. However, he is value driven and desires to live in the world, where every human being can be the master of their own fate, unbound by the chains of poverty, oppression or injustice.

Oluwaseyi works autonomously with clients on ISO 27001, ISO 22301and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification projects, as payment card industry qualified security assessor (PCI QSA), liaising with clients at all levels, presenting results and coordinating client works and requirements. He also conducts compliance and risk assessments and completes PCI Report of Compliance (ROC) as PCI QSA, documenting project plans, action plans, presentations and project results for clients, delivering IT consultancy and projects.

Together with his team, his outfit engages in gathering customer’s requirements and providing solutions, as well as recognising new business opportunities, project managements and technical architecture and design.

This seasoned enterprise security architect is a general in cyber security warfare, governance risk, and compliance (GRC) consultant and information evangelist. His mission is to assist organisations to realise their business capabilities by translating their business visions and strategies into an effective change through creating, communicating and improving the enterprise architecture and securities principles, model and requirements, which describe the enterprise’s present and future security state, as well as enable its evolution for competitive advantage.

Ojo works at Digital Jewels Ltd., a consulting firm, where he is the information security consultant and project manager. Here, his responsibilities include defining the scope of the project in collaboration with the client’s senior management. He is not limited to this function, though, as he also develops a schedule for project completion that effectively allocates resources to the activities, as well as reviews the project schedules with senior management and all other staff that will be affected by the project activities and revising the schedules as required.

“I determine set objectives and measures upon which the project will be evaluated at its completion,” he explains. “I also provide on and off-site consultancy support to clients in developing and implementing information security management processes and procedures. My satisfaction comes from seeing clients pleased with jobs done. Seeing the value added to their businesses gives me fulfilment.”

He specialises in enterprise architecture, which is a conceptual blueprint that defines the structure and operation of an organisation.

“Enterprise Architecture helps in conducting enterprise analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a holistic interactive approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of strategies. My interest in working in this area is to help organisations realise their capabilities and at the same time achieve their set goals and objectives,” he says.

A CHARTERED engineer from the Engineering Council, United Kingdom, and Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigerian (COREN), he has been involved in this field of specialisation for a while. He is a graduate of electrical and electronics engineering; electrical and computer engineering and holds a master’s degree in business administration. He is also a fellow and chartered information technology professional of the British Computer Society, as well as being a professional member of the Nigerian Society Of Engineers (NSE) and ISACA Lagos chapter among others.

“Interestingly, with the recent cybersecurity bill passed by the 7th National Assembly and the ever-emerging global trends, more organisations are beginning to realise the need for an independent assessment, which is where my outfit is now playing an important role,” he explains. “Today, outfits like mine play a crucial role in that they are helping organisations understand the various risks to which their businesses are exposed and how to minimise them. With this, we help them attain their business goals and objectives, continuously improve productivity and their competitive advantage.”

While growing up, Oluwaseyi imbibed such values as integrity, hard work, loyalty, faithfulness and the love for people. All these enabled him lead an independent life, even as a young man. Today, he considers them a blessing, as they have positively influenced his life in no small measure.

After graduation, he started his career as a trainee hardware/IT engineer. He moved through the ranks while garnering much-needed experiences along the line.

“My recipe for success is being focused, determined, tenacious and hard working. It’s important that individuals believe in themselves and put their trust in God and not in man,” he says.

AS a professional, Oluwaseyi has experienced the good sides of two worlds. He is a firm believer in Nigeria’s potential to develop and be the best country in the world, if it can get it right.

“I am a Nigerian to my roots. I love this country because I have been privileged to visit and live abroad. It is sad that we are still struggling with the basics, but it is possible for us to do things right. I think we have the problem of both leadership and follower ship. The leaders don’t seem to have a firm and deep conviction to make this country livable and prosperous. On their part, the followers do not even know what they want, so they cannot demand such from the leaders.”

He is indeed worried and saddened that Nigerians are not patriotic. “We have so many Nigerians, whose life ambition is ensuring that their children do not grow up here and never even know what Nigeria is all about. We take huge sums of monies and store them in banks abroad. We are killing ourselves and destroying our common heritage, our children’s future. We travel far and wide to the best of countries and yet we cannot replicate what we see here in our country. We cannot even provide such simple things as good roads, airports and steady electricity. We can never go far, if we continue this way.”

Towards this end, he would want government to do more by making Nigeria more attractive to Nigerians living or working abroad. “First, government can use IT as an effective tool to achieve strategic objectives. For instance, there is a need for government to have a centrally managed and regularly updated database of its citizens. Statistics should be created, where it is not available or complete and update,” he says.

On the need for a centrally managed and updated database, he wonders whether Nigeria has statistics on the number of people being issued Nigerian visas abroad in a quarter of every year. “Do Nigerian government has statistics on the number of people entering or leaving the country on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? These are the basics and it is a starting point if we must get it right.”

And to get it right, he said there is an urgent need to ensure that Nigeria has a good and strong legislation on cyber security, to deal with cyber crime. It must demonstrate the political will that would secure the country’s business environment so as to make it more attractive to business operators and foreign investors.

“This legislation should not only be good on paper but in actual implementation and practice, which should also be regularly reviewed. Currently, Nigeria has a cyber crime Act 2015 that was passed by the 7th National Assembly in 2015 after waiting for almost 10 years. This may not be adequate to address the current threats though it is a starting point.”

He advises the youths to take full advantage of the various opportunities in Nigeria, especially, those that are yet untapped, while exploring opportunities abroad. He said there was nothing wrong with going abroad to get more experience and exposure and coming back to Nigeria to implement such. “Doing this would help Nigeria become tops amongst the league of nations. To be honest, things are also not easy in the US, Europe and all over the world, as many people erroneously think.”

To succeed, he says Nigerian youths must define who they are, discover who they are, find their passion and latent potentials.
“Nigeria belongs to the future generation and they must not be docile. They must not adopt the ‘siddon-look’ style. We must join hands to build this nation.”