General News
ADVOCATES of children’s rights have urged the National Assembly to speedily pass the Bill for an Act to enact the Child Online Access Protection and Online Violence Against Nigerian Child and for Other Related Matters.
The advocates made the call in an interview with newsmen on the sidelines of a stakeholders’ round table in Abuja on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that a 2018 UNICEF report highlighted that every half a second, a new child was being exposed to significant online risks.
According to the report, the situation is more critical in Nigeria, with reports indicating that 90 per cent of children face online risks, including cyberbullying, inappropriate content and exploitation.
NAN reports that the bill, among other things, seeks to protect children against cyber bullying, cyber abuse, cyber extortion and other cyber activities that may impose harm on them.
To implement the proposed Act, a tax at the rate of 0.02 per cent shall be charged on the assessable profit of a Search Engine, Telecom Service Providers, Artificial Intelligence, (AI) Gaming, Streaming and Social Media App Vendor companies registered in Nigeria.
In her remarks, the Country Director, Lawyers Without Borders in Nigeria, Ms Angela Uzoma, said that the bill would directly impact and affect the lives of Nigerian children of all ages.
According to her, about 90 per cent of the children in Nigeria have access to digital devices, whether at home or in school or through their friends.
She said that the access exposed children to a large range of online harms and violence, which the bill seeks to protect.
“So every Nigerian, whether you are a biological parent or not, whether you are an aunt or an uncle, whether you are a child or an adult, you should be interested and should support this bill.
“When we talk about online harms that children are exposed to, it ranges from issues around cyber bullying, grooming, child exposure to sexual violence and sexual abuse.
“We have children being groomed, we have children being threatened online. We have children, we have predators, pretending to be children and targetting children.
“We have sextortion going on; children are being tricked into exposing intimate parts of their bodies to adults, who are hiding and pretending to be children.
“So everyone in Nigeria should be interested in joining their voices to call on the Nigerian Senate to pass this bill,” she said.
Also speaking, the Coordinator of General Unit in the National Assembly, Ms Christiana Eguma, said that the bill seeks online safety for children at this digital age.
According to Eguma, many children go online without supervision from their parents or guardians, giving them access to smart devices which make them become vulnerable.
She explained that the bill also seeks to ensure internet platforms take the responsibility to prevent child abuse on various platforms.
“It puts accountability on the platform themselves so that they can take responsibility of putting down some of these negative things early enough.
“It seeks to ensure that from the parents to the school, to the children, everybody is responsible enough to protect children online.
“So the bill seeks to ensure children are protected from the adult, and from even their own peers that are bullies.
“We are calling on the National Assembly to pass the bill so that Nigerian children can be protected from all harm,” she said.
On his part, Mr Oluwasesan Ifegbesan, an educator, said that all hands must be on deck to ensure the protection of the Nigerian child against online harm.
He said that parents and indeed the general public must be vigilant to guide every child on the use of internet and social media.(NAN)
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Tags: Advocates Online abuse