Recent appointment of Nigerian First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan as champion of its Child Online Protection (COP) initiative, is a welcome development in spite of the bad image Nigeria has online and given the number of global children online, writes REMMY NWEKE.
Preamble:
IN leadership, one thing that seems very much neglected has been
the role and power of women, especially in powerful positions as first ladies
of a given country and in realizing this fact, could be classified as uncommon
wisdom towards achieving a goal or attracting the needed political will to
achieve a goal.
On the other hand, a lot of parents nowadays have taken to
economic survival than taking good care of their God-given children, which have
exposed these children to various crimes, especially now that everything
literarily is moving online and it has been estimated that 45 million children
ages 10 through 17 use the Internet.
It was not surprising that a global body like the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) realized this human element to enhance its goal
of offering children online some level of protection, hence they named the
Nigerian First Lady and President, African First Ladies Peace Mission, Dame
(Dr) Patience Goodluck Jonathan, its Child Online Protection (COP) Champion.
What is COP?
The ITU’s COP is aimed at tackling cyber security holistically,
addressing legal, technical, organizational and procedural issues as well as
capacity building and international cooperation for the sake of children,
bearing in mind that children are the future of the world.
Universally, it is a known fact that young people are particularly
vulnerability in an online environment, thus making a specialized initiative
within the larger Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) framework a necessity.
ITU says the legal, technical and institutional challenges posed
by the issue of cybersecurity are global and far-reaching and could only be
addressed through a coherent strategy taking into account the role of different
stakeholders and existing initiatives, within a framework of an international
collaborative network.
The UN agency listed some key objectives of COP to include
identifying the risks and vulnerabilities to children in cyberspace; creating
awareness and develop practical tools to help minimize risk as well as sharing
knowledge and experiences.
ITU as a proud regulator:
ITU prides itself as the leading United Nations agency for
information and communication technology for about 150 years now and has
coordinated the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international
cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve communication
infrastructure in the developing world, and established the worldwide standards
that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems.
From broadband networks to new-generation wireless technologies,
aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based
meteorology and converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting
technologies, ITU says it’s committed to connecting the world.
First Ladies connection:
ITU Secretary-General, Dr Hamadoun I. Touré disclosed this
recently to DigitalSENSE Business News in an official statement, said that the
First Lady received her letter of appointment from the Director of ITU’s
Telecommunication Development Bureau, Brahima Sanou, who met with her on
Friday, May 10, 2013 to discuss issues related to cyber-threats and
cyber-security in the Africa region.
Mr. Sanou, who was accompanied by Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of
the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT),
ITU’s executing arm for cybersecurity, and Andrew Rugege, ITU Regional Director
for Africa, described the appointment as a great honour.
“Her commitment is further confirmation of the key role that ITU
is playing as a global catalyst and facilitator in international dialogue and
cooperation in the area of cybersecurity,” he said.
Sanou stressed that the “COP framework has become a crucial means
of creating a safe environment for our children while they are on the net. Both
ITU and IMPACT have faith in Her Excellency’s ability to spread this message
and push for reforms not only in the Africa region but across the globe.”
Perfect advocate for COP:
Datuk Mohd Noor Amin said Dame Jonathan, who has won numerous
accolades for her charitable works involving women and children, would be the
perfect advocate for ITU’s Child Online Protection initiative.
“Her Excellency is both a progressive leader and renowned
humanitarian, and is the ideal candidate to help ITU-IMPACT in its mission to
push for COP awareness and the need for national online protection frameworks
to protect and support the younger generations online,” Datuk said.
This is appointment is coming at a time when Nigeria has been
designated to host IMPACT Cybersecurity Regional Centre, which has been
advanced for the set up. As said by Mr. Sanou, the ITU and 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 localizing cybersecurity services to meet the unique needs
of the region.
“Nigeria has indicated its interest in hosting a new Regional
Centre under the ITU-IMPACT framework,” he declared, adding that the proposed
Regional centre, would become a vital hub of expertise and constitute an
important component of the multi-stakeholder network that must be built to
support government, industry and citizens, so that the full benefits of information
and communications technology could be assured for all citizens.
Mr. Sanou noted that while acting as a catalyst for greater
regional collaboration to address escalating cyber threats, this centre would
also help promote Nigeria as an advanced cybersecurity hub for the region.
Voices:
A seasoned new media consultant based in Zambia, Mrs. Brenda Zulu,
told DigitalSENSE Business News that engagement of First Ladies, especially in
Africa to be a channel for advocacy on for the protection of child online,
would go a long way in helping to drum the needed support for parents to take
interest in what their children are doing online. So, the appointment of Dame
Patience Jonathan by ITU was a welcome development.
“They can talk about it, but also emphasis that parents who are
closer to their children should continue to give them relevant advice,” Mrs.
Zulu said.
A Lagos-based Managing Director of Signal Alliance, Mr. Collins
Onuegbu, advised to help children, adding that much work could be done offline
than online to better the lives of the child. He wondered what per cent of
global kids are online.
New York Times recently reported that nearly a third of parents fail to put any
restrictions on web use on Personal Computers (PCs) at home and many children
spend up to four hours or more every day on computers, tablets and smart phones
either bought for them or own by their parents and senior ones.
On the other hand, it has been discovered that when parents put
PCs in children’s rooms, very often when they are assumed to be in bed, they
are aware and online.
Conclusion:
The Internet could be an exciting piece for learning, mostly for
children, but it could turn an influential tool for online intruders who
explore gullible children.
In developed economies like the United States, Internet crime has
been on the rise with a good percentage of schools on internet. An estimated 45
million children ages 10 through 17 use the Internet and among them, one in
every five has been sexually solicited, one in four has encountered unwanted
pornography, and about 60 per cent of teens have received an e-mail or instant
message from a stranger and half have communicated back.
While about 75 per cent of Internet crimes involving sexual
solicitations of children and exposure to unwanted pornographies are never
reported to police or parents, DigitalSENSE
Business News gathered that it’s even worse in developing economies, where
even the security agencies are accused of committing secondary assault when
such sexual related crimes are reported to them in the name of investigation.
Though, most children know more about the Internet than adults do, reports have it that about 62 per cent of children less than 10 years claimed their parents know little or nothing about the websites they visit. As a result, many parents do not supervise their children’s Internet use, hence it’s imperative to appreciate the foresight of ITU in the appointment of Dame Patience Jonathan as a Child Online Protection champion, to help in sensitizing adults, especially parents on this topic and in this regard to create the consciousness among the growing population, across the continent of Africa and Nigeria precisely.
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