First Lady to spearhead child-online protection
LAGOS State government has expressed worries over the spate of cybercrimes in the country, saying this trend will limit Nigeria’s growth potential and hinder the country’s foreign investments drive.
Besides, the regime of cybercrime, according to Lagos is an indication that there is huge unemployment in the country, making crime attractive to the army of the unemployed Nigerians, especially the youths.
While declaring open a one-day Cyber Safety Conference in Lagos, the state’s Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Adebiyi Fatai Mabadeje, said that urgent measures must be implemented to curb the menace.
Mabadeje noted that there is need to have youths in the country gainfully employed, stressing that if the teeming unemployed youths, among others have something tangible doing, they won’t be lured into such sharp practices.
In a related development, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has appointed the First Lady of Nigeria and president of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, Patience Goodluck Jonathan, as the ITU’s Child Online Protection champion.
The ITU and the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (Impact) are looking at the possibility of setting up a Cybersecurity Regional Centre in Nigeria, which would play an essential role in supporting the expansion of ITU-Impact’s network globally, by localising cybersecurity services to meet the needs of the region.
The commissioner also hinted of plans by the state to roll out fibre optic cables to address the challenge of increasing population in the state.
Mabadeje, who put the state’s population at over 21 million, noted that the number would jump to 25 million by 2015, going by the high rate of migration of people into Lagos.
According to him, the current infrastructure in the area of fibre optic would not sustain the growing population of Lagos, hence need for additional fibre optic cable rollout that would broadband penetration in the state. At the Lagos conference organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology in conjunction with FB Initiatives and Innovations Limited, the commissioner said a collaborative effort between government and the private sector could help, stressing that this will go a long way in reducing the menace.
He called for speedy passage of the cybercrime bill at the National Assembly, stressing that if this was passed on time, it would assist in the fight against the crime.
Meanwhile, as part of it efforts to assist the security agencies and judiciary in properly investigating crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice, Lagos government has revealed plan to establish a forensic laboratory.
Mabadeje, who said the laboratory would be situated in Badagry, a suburb of Lagos, disclosed that the state is still seeking fund to enable it build an international model.
According to him, the lab is going to be purposely built to check crimes and aid data centre for easy retrieval of collected evidence.
A Cyber Safety Expert and Veteran of Ontario Provincial Police and Chief Executive Officer, Nickel Concept, USA, Mr. Rob Nickel, who spoke at the conference, said it has become highly imperative to protect children from internet predators.
Nickel urged parents and guardians to monitor their children and wards online so that they are not exposed to online predators and cyber bullies.
For Catherine Angai, a consultant to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on ‘Child Online Protection Initiative’, there should be guidelines on child online protection, stressing that government should collaborate with the private sector to demystify cyberspace crimes.
Angai said Nigeria has one of the highest penetrations of cybercrime regime in Africa, stressing that there has not been urgent measures to stop the crime.
“Nigeria remains very slow in stepping up solution to solve the problems. There should be policies in place to protect children online and curb growing internet frauds.
Joining the commissioner to call for the speedy passage of the cybercrimes bill at NASS, Angai said cybercrimes policies and Child Online Protection policies are interwoven, but that there should be dedicated attention given to the children, stressing that if the children can be protected early enough, it will assist in the fight against increase in cybercrimes.
According to her, it is frustration that is causing increase in cybercrimes in the country.
“What is fuelling increase in cybercrime is frustration, things are not getting on well. Youths are getting reckless and most of the time they are online. It will interest you to note that it is not all of them that go into cybercrime, some do it for fun, for exploitation and when the opportunity to make money comes in, they explore. There is need for action against this menace”, she stated.
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