- December 23, 2023
- By Abdulrazaq Imam
COSPRA Summit 2023
The COSPRA 2023 Summit with the theme: “Child Online Safety, Protection and Reporting of Abuse in Nigeria” which was held as a hybrid event commenced at 10:00am on November 23, 2023.
The Summit attracted participants from various industries across the 6 geo-political regions of the country and was focused on driving profitable and progressive conversations around child online safety and protection, covering thematic areas on Digital Literacy, Safety and Privacy, and Multi-stakeholder Responsibilities in Online Safety.
The summit host/compere, Chinwe Ogbujah introduced individual panelists and their panel sessions while welcoming them on stage during the summit.
Rapporteurs: Safiya Mohammed and Joseph Ojone Esther
Panel Session I: Digital Literacy
Moderator: Rotimi Olawale (Represented by Morenikeji Olonilua) – Executive Director, YouthhubAfrica.
Speakers:
- Khadijah El-Usman – Regional Lead, Anglophone West Africa, Paradigm Initiative.
- Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George – Head, Internet Governance Unit, New Media and Information Security Department. of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
- Dr Hassan Wunmi – President/CEO, High Tech Centre for Nigerian Women and Youths.
- Ms. Arinola Akinyemi – CEO, DigiSphere Limited.
The session started with a warm welcome and introduction of speakers by the moderator, Morenikeji Olonilua. She proceeded to give a short overview of the theme for the panel session before engaging the panelists in progressive conversations. Her introduction of the theme highlighted issues such as the current landscape of digital literacy in Nigeria, access to the Internet as a right of the Nigerian Child, and strengthening the capacity of stakeholders in the child online literacy programs of the country.
Khadijah El-Usman on the current landscape of digital literacy especially on the Nigerian child.
Khadija El-Usman stated that there have been disjointed efforts in the digital literacy landscape in Nigeria, resulting in the search for information from multiple sources which she has stated, is unhealthy for our current digital landscape. She highlighted that, legally any information that has to do with the Nigerian Child, must be sourced from the Child Rights Act but how much of education and digital literacy information is contained in the Act?
Khadijah added that there exists a policy on child online protection for digital literacy which was chaired by NCC and adopted by NITDA and other multi-stakeholders in the space. The Ministry of Education also worked on the gender education policy which also falls into the digital literacy conversations, despite these developments Nigeria is still yet to access information from a single document, she added.
She emphasized the importance of online education for children in the context of digital literacy, especially considering the pandemic. She highlighted the need to engage more children in online learning to ensure continuity in their education, which was disrupted during the pandemic, and to enhance their access to online resources, among other objectives.
Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George on the access to the Internet as a right to the Nigerian Child, how do we ensure proper accessibility and integration of digital skills into the Nigerian education system?
Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George started by referring to the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, a document that was launched before the Covid-19 pandemic. A document that foresaw the challenges of Nigerian education, notably on digital literacy and skills in every work of life to have access.
Dr. Ibiso added that one of the things NCC has done to drive access as the Government was to formulate a Broadband Policy that seeks access to infrastructure, which forms the basis platform on which all other digital access rides on. She emphasized that the progress recognized by the NCC and other stakeholders on board was considered a significant development in Nigeria’s infrastructure. However, even though NCC is not focused on the education space, NCC’s corporate social responsibility has spread across giving access to digital platforms and devices across schools, she added.
She further added that with digital literacy, there’s an ongoing collaboration between the NCC and the Ministry of Education to ensure access to infrastructure in public schools starting with 6 Colleges of Education across the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria, this includes teachers training and access to digital skills using Google for Education workspace in the onboarding process.
Dr. Ibiso emphasized the challenges of accessing digital infrastructures in the rural communities and their schools recommending increased deployment of training and enhanced policy for wider implementation and support system.
Dr Hassan Wunmi on the place of trust in schools, domestic and public environments in handling and preventing Online Abuse. How do we strengthen the capacity of these stakeholders?
Dr Hassan Wunmi emphasized the importance of foundational infrastructures to boost digital skills and knowledge among teachers and students of both public and private schools. She stated that in a resilient economy or institution, there’s a need for a connected digital experience to boost and enhance digital literacy, safety, and the overall connected experience in Academia, Government, and other multi-stakeholders.
Dr Hassan further shared in-depth experience in her coordination and management of effective programs, adding that public schools deserve better as opposed to the fact that the public believes public education systems are not savvy on the modern technologies that but rather they’re way better and should be provided with the required support, improved access to the devices and freedom to interact within their various schools.
She finally advised that synergy between different stakeholder groups must be adopted for seamless development in policy-making , implementation, and collaborative adoption to avoid disconnected efforts from these groups. There should exist a single data and progress report for every single outreach for effective point-of-reference, track, and measure of impact by key Government leaderships.
Ms. Arinola Akinyemi on practical tips on how teachers, parents, and guidance can guide and protect the Nigerian Child on the basic principle of Online Safety
Ms. Arinola Akinyemi started with the need for parents and teachers to impact practical skills and knowledge to help and guide the children on safety online. We must begin to ask questions about the skills parents and teachers have regarding online safety. She added that most schools are protective of their devices and would not allow these students access to them for some reasons.
Ms. Arinola added that the need for adaptability of teachers and students in public schools cannot be over emphasized, adding that the pressing need for public school teachers requiring more training and sensitization on how to impact the skills on their students is palpable. She highlighted the need to focus more on public schools than private ones, considering the fact that private schools can afford to provide their teachers and students with the needed training.
She further advised on the need for open access to digital devices but also paying closer attention to the students’ activities online as parents and teachers, noting the need to remain open minded with them as their curiosity level to learning and practice is heightened, tagging them with the (Gen Z’s).
Panel Session II: Safety and Privacy
Moderator: Eyitayo Iyortim, Chief Operating Officer, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA).
Speakers:
- Haruna Abdullahi (Represented by Ben Abdul) – Editor-in-Chief, World Entourage Magazine
- Solomon Okedara – Co-Founder, Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative
- Mr Bernard Ewah – Ag. Director- eGovernment Development and Regulatory, NITDA
- Mr. Ngamariju Titus Mangzha – Head, National Monitoring Center(NMC) and Team Lead, Cyber Security Reports Team, NAPTIP
The moderator, Mrs Eyitayo Iyortim gave a warm welcome and introduction of speakers to the session. She proceeded to give an overview of the panel theme noting how critical the topics are and wished it reaches both the parents and teachers in Nigeria. Her introduction of the theme highlighted issues such as the neglect of the Child Online Safety Space in Nigeria, the Unified Strategy on Child Online Protection, the importance of Child Online Safety as a key part in advancing the technical development of the country and the rest of the world.
Barr Okedara Solomon on the state of current and major challenges of the policy implementation of the Child Online Safety in Nigeria, role of schools in keeping the Nigerian child safe.
Barr Solomon Okedara highlighted the involvement of children in situations where they were not involved, this brings the opening conversation by Okedara stating that there exists an immediate absence of identity, digital and physical safety of the Nigerian child online.
Barr Solomon speaks on the existence of child’s safety knowledge from the parents and teachers. If the Nigerian children need to be safe and protected online, then the caregivers of these children must be aware of the protective laws surrounding them online from the Government. He mentioned that there must be fundamental human rights amongst the stakeholders to properly educate, protect and uphold their basic rights in accessing the Internet.
He added that schools play a crucial role in making sure that while their right is adequately expressed in accessing the Internet and related content, the schools stand in a position to protect their digital presence from online predators either through close supervision, proper implementation of stakeholders policies and awareness maximization approach.
Mr. Ngamariju Titus Mangzha on the state of current and major challenges of the policy implementation of the Child Online Safety in Nigeria, what are the needed structures to ensure the safety of Nigerian children online?
Mr. Ngamariju Titus Mangzha stated that the policy document needed to be looked at and amending the policies and implementing the laws of the State. This way, there would be clear indications on the areas that need attention. He emphasized on the need for multi-stakeholder groups to come together and access policy for a better trust, especially in imaging, video and personal information on social media.
Mr Mangzha on the challenges of policy implementation built on the need for multi-stakeholders to get involved in the policy implementation and not work in silos.
He added that there should be a deliberate attempt in monitoring the activities of the children online, adding that there must be a symbiosis relationship between the children and their parents to fully express and report any alien activities for their own safety. He added that the children can only be protected if they become free to express themselves to the relevant regulatory, security and parental authority such as the NAPTIP.
Mr. Ben Abdul on the state of current and major challenges of the policy implementation of the Child Online Safety in Nigeria?
Mr. Ben Abdul laid emphasis on the 2020 data released by NCC that on average the Nigerian child spent 3 – 8 hours on a screen, also a report from the Nigeria Child Online Safety Index Report, 2020 stated that there is a high level of disordered use of technology and social media among the Nigerian children and among the 30 countries that was sampled on Child’s Safety, Nigeria is a the bottom six thereby exposing the children to environment of unregulated policies and implementations stated by Mr Abdul.
Mr. Abdul while highlighting the major challenge of implementation noted that there’s a disjointed effort in policy making by different stakeholders and advised on a unified approach to policy making and implementation on multi-stakeholder approach.
He added finally that there must be a deliberate and collaborative effort between the different stakeholders, which are the parents and teachers in monitoring, understanding and protecting the safety and privacy of the activities of their child online.
Panel Session III: Multi-stakeholders Responsibilities in Online Safety
Moderator: Adebunmi Akinbo – Chief Executive Officer, DNS Africa.
Speakers:
- Mr Olusegun Olugbile – President, Global Network for Cybersolution
- Dr. Nnenna. Ndukwe Kalu – Head, Dept of Paediatrics, Federal Medical Centre Ebute-Metta
- Torsten Krause – Consultant, Child Protection and Children’s Rights in the Digital World
- Mrs Busayo Balogun – Head Corporate Services, NiRA
Mr Adebunmi Akinbo, virtually moderates the multi-stakeholderism approach in online safety of the child welcoming all the speakers to the panel session. Due to network connectivity issues, He proceeded to engage the panelists on the current issues around Multi-stakeholders Responsibilities in Online Safety.
Dr. Nnenna. Ndukwe Kalu on creating strategic multi-stakeholder partnerships for open educational resources in planning, reporting and responding to cases of Online Abuse in Children
Dr. Nnenna. Ndukwe Kalu speaks on the need for the child to relate and speak freely with thor parents irrespective of their disciplinary actions, she noted that parents can only love, cater and protect you while growing up and they’re in a position to take all measures safely.
Dr Nnenna advised based on NAPTIP’s conversation, adding that incidence of child abuse should be documented and published online to make the public known of such prosecution. She added that medicine, the approach of prevention should be adopted before getting to the point where they are abused online which comes from active education and awareness. She highlighted that the community of parents and teachers must stay informed, without the knowledge of prevention from these stakeholders, there exists a knowledge gap from knowing what the children themselves are exposed to, and how accessible they’re to the online space without any prior enlightenment.
She added, it is not sufficient in speaking to parents individually in the hospitals so there must be a form of intentional advocacy to educate children and their parents on the dangers of online abuse as well as access to the online environment.
She added a case called Psychosomatic disorder illness where these children are found out to be physically healthy however, their psychological or mental health is affected by fears of physical bullying which also happens when bullied online in children. She highlighted that advocacy campaigns should be rolled out by medical providers or professionals should adopt to educate the children, mental health support programs and research for proper sensitization in protecting the children in the online environment.
Torsten Krause on how we ensure rural communities’ participation in the Digital Commons, report online abuse and child risk mitigation platforms.
Torsten Krause shared a general comment – “UN declared that state party should ensure that all children should have an equal and exertive access to the digital environment that include providing free and safe access for children in dedicated public locations” from this he stated that it is important to identify people in different locations especially the rural areas who can use their impact in a positive way. He believes these people should be partners when it comes to meaningful access to online activities.
Torsten added that it is necessary to make a deliberate effort on what kind of access the children have or use, in a community, school, public places or even a mobile access. He stated that children having access to these digital environments are often not alone, they can control or escort their usage on the digital environment and they could be in partnership, monitor or discuss with the children based on what they are doing online to mitigate the risk of their online access.
He also stated that there should be reporting centers, adding the need to broadcast their hotline for the public to be aware about. He also noted that there should be a deliberate partnership between organizations/NGOs and law enforcement agencies to properly align reporting platforms for the benefit of these children, stating that it is of no use if the public don’t know or have knowledge on the hotlines to report these online abuses.
Mr Olusegun Olugbile on multi-stakeholder responsibility in IT security, awareness campaigns and digital literacy propagation.
Mr Olusegun Olugbile responded to the thematic conversation on the need for regulatory institutions to be held responsible for the online safety and protection of the child. He emphasized the need for the regulator to regulate service providers and the intersection of their relationship, noting that the duty of care is universal for effective accountability.
Mr Olusegun emphasized the need to also focus on the mothers and their digital skills while addressing the need for safety online of the children, stating the need for a broad framework of a digital family. The family leadership will have the responsibility of engaging the digital literacy of their children within the family development, he added, the practical usage and safety is mandatory in keeping the children regulated, monitored and controlled giving them access to mandatory online usage.
He added that it is essential for the family to take the leadership of a digital life, development, trends and lifestyle of the child to avoid the dangers of the online space. He also added that schools should be kept ahead of digital advancement, using digital initiative to drive IT developments for effective accountability.
Key Considerations:
- There should be no dichotomy between Digital Literacy and Conventional educational Literacy.
- There is no proper curriculum that establishes how to go about Digital Literacy in schools.
- The issue of funding for integration of Digital Literacy Program into educational curriculum and implementation of Digital Literacy Programs.
- Affordable, Accessible and Available Internet in the country especially the rural areas.
- The presence of predators online and the technical controls to protect children online.
- Initiatives taken by several NGOs and International Partners in improving child online safety.
- The synergy between Internet Services Providers and Civil Societies and the role of all stakeholders in Child Online Safety.
- Private and Public Investments in Digital Literacy and existing Public-Private Partnerships in Nigeria.
- The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill and the Child’s Right Act.
- Negligence of teachers and Trainers in Digital skills programs. This has led to many teachers or trainers lacking adequate skills to impact the children.The need for children to protect their privacy as any information that has been posted can not be forgotten easily. The internet never forgets.
- There isn’t enough engagement of the Law (Litigation) in issues relating to Child Online Safety.
- There is an increased rate of access to the Internet for children under the age of 18 in an unsupervised or under supervised fashion.
- The neglect of the child online safety space in most Internet related deliberations by stakeholders and even the government.
- The role of Parents and guardians and adults in ensuring that children are safe while accessing the Internet.
- The inadequacy of current child protection and cybercrime acts in Nigeria and the need for a comprehensive legislation on child online safety.
- The need for robust implementation of existing legislation.
- Parents and Adult guardians are not aware that laws exist to protect children and so cannot make informed decisions.
- There is a Data gap concerning children in Nigeria that has impeded the creation of holistic policies in this regard.
- The presence of predators online and the technical controls to protect children online.
- Inability to properly enforce existing legislations on Child Online Safety.
- Initiatives taken by several NGOs and International Partners in improving child online safety.
- The unpopularity of a central reporting authority intended for cases of child online abuse.
- Negligence of teachers and Trainers in Digital skills programs. This has led to many teachers or trainers lacking adequate skills to impact the children positively.
To read more on the Child Online Safety and Protection Summit recommendations, head on to 2023 Recommendations.