Women Community Holds Summit on Cyber Safety for Children

Women Community in Africa (WCA), a coalition of civil society groups that addresses social issues, especially those that affects women in communities, has called for a collaborative approach between educators, parents and leaders to ensure that Nigerian children are protected in the cyberspace , as it sets to hold Cyber Safety Summit in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT)

The group made the call on Friday in Abuja during a news conference to unveil its programme for the 2024 edition of its annual summit with the theme, “Cyber Safety: Empowering Families in the Digital Age.”

The WCA summit is a trademarked programme under the Beyond Mentors Community Care Initiative ( BMCCI), a gender-focused NGO in Nigeria, devoted to the social, economic and educational development, counseling and mentoring of especially young persons in rural and urban communities.

Mr Ademola Kasumu, Chairman Board of Trustee of BMCCI, said as part of its avowed commitment to sustain the call for safe internet for children, the group was set to hold the WCA summit on October . 10 in the FCT will bring together,students, teachers, parents, community leader, policy makers and other stakeholders.

According to him, the summit was an effort to urge stakeholders to wake up to the negative realities confronting children in the cyberspace.

“The internet, once hailed as a revolutionary tool to streamline human endeavours, drive sufficiency , and foster growth, has also unleashed a myriad of challenges and perils.

“Its dark underbelly has ravaged countless lives, leaving scars that may never fully heal. This summit is an effort to tighten our belts or wrappers as the case maybe as African mothers/parents to save our world from the threatening consequences of the cyberspace .

“We must unite and join forces to protect our children from the clutches of cyber threats, ensuring they don’t become collateral damages in this digital age.

He added that “together, we can create a sanctuary of safety, where our children can thrive, learn and grow without fear of destruction.

“The future of our society depends on engaging in discussions that can build sustainable processes that will become our legacy of solutions.”

In her speech, the Global President of WCA, Dr Adetoun Dally, said as Nigeria navigate the vast expanse of cyberspace in the digital age, safety and well-being of Nigerian children should be given utmost priority by parents, policy makers and other stakeholders.

“So different organisations have come together under Women’s Community in Africa to amplify our voices, knowing that if we all sit in different corners, our voices will not go far enough

“We have come together to ensure that our voices, which are focused on contributing to achieving sustainable development goals, and ensuring that we have better societies.

“The virtual world is our present reality and of course, all of us know that in years to come, it is the reality that we are going to face.

“However, for every kingdom there is a culture, and if you do not understand the culture of the kingdom that you are in, you are going to run into problems.

“Our children do not understand the culture of the virtual world and cyberspace, and they are getting into problems, and we have seen a lot of it in recent times and that is why we want to speak out because it is a concern,” she said.

Dr Maimoona Salim, chairperson of the summit organising committee, said the internet with is tremendous usefulness, has attendant risks, particularly for the vulnerable minds, and has vices such as cyberbullying and even exploitation.

According to her, the summit is an opportunity to rally all Nigerians of goodwill towards ensuring that children are shielded from cyber harms.

“It is impacting on our children, our families and communities, and our children are not equipped enough to handle the dark web.

“We are not enlightened enough to help our children understand the dark web, so we want to bridge that gap and hopefully, we will be able to fulfill that by having this summit.

“It will not just be about the summit, it is about the continuation of this work and every organisation under WCA will now take this campaign to the next level.

She pledged that “We will take messages from the summit and have a program that will enlighten children in schools and in communities.”

Also, the chairperson, WCA Legal Committee, Barr Jade Olise, lamented that a lot of Nigerians do not know that the Cyber Crimes Act exists.

She said the law would be simplified in pamplets for distribution to students, parents and other participants at the summit.

“We have also put in how to report a cybercrime and so all of that is what will culminates into the simplified version of the Cyber Crimes Act that we have worked on and will be launched at the summit.

“These are some of the ways to take the advocacy back to the schools so that our children can be well guided,” she said.