FG Urged to Conduct Survey on Child Online Abuse

The Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria, has been urged to conducted a survey on child online abuses in the country, to check its excesses.

This call was made by the pioneer Lagos branch secretary, Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Mr. Remmy Nweke, in a paper, entitled ‘Nigerian Students, Technology Education and Cyber Crime’ to mark the 2018 World Safer Internet Day (WSID) event organised by the International Centre for Leadership Development Nigeria (ICLDNg) at Itolo Girl’s Senior Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos.

Nweke, who also is the Lead Strategist and Group Executive Editor, DigitalSENSE Africa Media group, said the survey became pertinent to help evaluate the enormity of child online abuses in the country, especially since the boom in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country have been unprecedented.

According to him, the federal government can urgently facilitate this survey via collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to quantity the crime, in addition to introducing a dedicated toll-free number to this cause.

While urging students, to always exhibit positive confidence whenever online and ready to share only content they are sure of, Nweke also advised parents to take special interest and care in what their children do mostly online.

“This is very key to safety of children online, while they must stick to Closed User Group (CUG), so as to stay safe and share beneficial information,” he said, enjoining children who wish to use social media applications (apps) to ensure those have user content control or user setting options like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to name a few.

“Apply discipline in the use of social media and focus on your education first,” he advised the students selected from various schools in Lagos State.