Author: nkfAdmin

The Webinar Commenced by 11:00 am on 13 July

Introduction:

The session commenced with a brief introduction by Abdulrazaq Imam, the Programs Officer of the Ndukwe Kalu Foundation. He warmly welcomed all and introduced the Ndukwe Kalu Foundation Executive Secretary, Erica Okibe for her introductory speech.

She took the opportunity to explain that this First Webinar is focused on the digital literacy of the Nigerian Child and how they should be guided in navigating the digital space.

Welcome Note:

The NKF Chairperson, Mrs. Mary Uduma thanked and gave a warm welcome to all the Speakers and stakeholders who have joined the webinar session. She equally emphasized her passion to protect children from online abuse and urge all stakeholders to do the same in other to minimize the rise of child online abuse in Nigeria.

Discussion on Recommendations from COSPRA 2023;

Panel Session I (Digital Literacy)

Morenikeji Olonilua E. Y. stepped in as she was introduced by Abdulrazaq Iman as the moderator for the section. She began by emphasizing the importance of the webinar section and how its invaluable ideas could impact the practical steps to curb child online abuse and make the internet safe for the young generation. She equally thanked the NKF for the follow-up webinar to ensure that the recommendations from COSPRA 2023 are executed.

Before the discussion commenced, she took the opportunity to introduce the speakers and they include, Mrs. Elizabeth Yisa, Principal Manager, (Internet Governance Unit, NCC), Mr. Mangzha Ngamariju, Team Lead (Cyber Security Response, NAPTIP), and Mrs. Omale Gloria, (SP, Nigerian Police Force).

First Speaker:

Mrs. Elizabeth Yisa, Principal Manager, (Internet Governance Unit, NCC) explained that the commission has embarked on various programs and partnered with other stakeholders to ensure that child online abuse is put on check. She stated that one of the recent programs embarked by NCC is the “Girls Can Code” Program in secondary schools in Abuja (GCC) which was built to encourage girls to participate in coding and being tech savvy.

Furthermore, she narrated that NCC has equally made another stride to put together The National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategic Document which has the majority of the COSPRA 2023 Recommendations embedded in it to help guide all stakeholders on their mandates towards child online safety and protection in Nigeria. The documents are also localized and uploaded on the NCC website for easy access.

However, she stated that NCC is working on initiatives to implement control on internet devices so that children would be protected and properly guided when they are accessing or surfing the internet.

Finally, she stated that the NCC is working closely with the Ministry of Education to implement COP (Child Online Protection) in the education curriculum of the Nigerian Education Syllabus. This to ensure the principal stakeholder in COP which are teachers are well-trained to help teach the children the need to be safe online.

Second Speaker:

The second speaker, Mr. Mangzha Ngamariju, Team Lead (Cyber Security Response, NAPTIP) thanked the moderator and the first speaker for their insightful thoughts and explanations. He narrated that the issues around child online protection in Nigeria are enormous because of the rising number of cases of child online abuse.

He explained that NAPTIP are working very hard as an agency to curb child online abuse. Major avenues in which these are done include, setting up vanguards (Student Clubs) in over 180 schools in Nigeria. Equally, they have collaborated with the Nigerian Army, and the Chief of Amry Staff to establish NAPTIP vanguard in all the Nigerian Military Schools across the federation.

He narrated these vanguards are student clubs which is created to enlightened and train students in proper internet usage. He lamented the child abuse have increased drastically and urgent need must be put in place to help minimize child online abuse.

Due to the rise of Child Online Abuse in Nigeria, NAPTIP has also commissioned “Cyber Response Team” setup with in partnership with Nigerian Police (NPF), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission to ensure that there is major control of the rising child online abuse.

Third Speaker:

Mrs. Omale Gloria, SP(Nigerian Police Force) narrated that the Nigerian Police have engaged with many NGOs and Agencies to create an awareness campaign against child online abuse and the need to manage digital literacy.

She further explained that the Nigeria Police is also working with Interpol and other foreign agencies to mitigate the rise of cybercrime in Africa especially in Nigeria with the ever-rising number of unemployed and underemployed youth who are looking for inappropriate means of a living.

Furthermore, she stated that the Nigerian Police Force has partnered with NCC and NAPTIP in various fora to enlighten the stakeholders especially the teachers and the parents in other to mitigate child online abuse.

Conclusion:

The Moderator, Miss Morenikeji Olonilua E. Y. expressed how impressed she was with the responses from the speakers and the entire audience. She called for urgent action on all that was discussed on the recommendations from COSPRA 2023.

Vote of thanks:

The NKF Chairperson, Mrs. Mary Uduma thanked all and encourage all stakeholders to ensure that these recommendations are properly implemented at all levels of the society. She also narrated that Ndukwe Kalu Foundation will be happy to partner with any stakeholder who wants to partner with NKF to reduce the incident of child online abuse.

Statistics Record of Attendance

	Stakeholder (Speakers)	Participants	NKF Team	NKF Chairperson and Trustee
Male		An average of
Female
Total