Tackling cyber crime among youths

Concerned about the widening and fast-growing cybercrime across the globe, a World Cyber Security Conference was held in Abuja on 17th September 2013, with the theme “Cyber Insecurity – A Latent Threat to National Security and Economic Development.”Africa, particularly Nigeria, is growing at a faster rate in technology adoption and consumption, than countries in Europe. […]

Concerned about the widening and fast-growing cybercrime across the globe, a World Cyber Security Conference was held in Abuja on 17th September 2013, with the theme “Cyber Insecurity – A Latent Threat to National Security and Economic Development.”
Africa, particularly Nigeria, is growing at a faster rate in technology adoption and consumption, than countries in Europe. Nigeria is one of the top 5 countries on Facebook, and other Social Media. The flip side of this development is that this has also created room for widespread perpetuation of cybercrimes. Quite recently, for instance, Nigeria was rated as number 59 on the list of cybercrimes locations in the world, by the Symantec Quarterly rating for 2013. Needless to say, this is NOT good news for a country that daily struggles to reconfigure world perceptions about her.
This alarming spate of cyber insecurity had prompted the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Brahima Sanou, during their meeting in Costa Rica, to discuss cyber threats and cyber security in the African region. The essence of these discussions was to address ways and means of stemming this malaise. At this event also, the First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan was appointed, as ITU’s Child Online Protection (COP) Champion.
Former Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak who also spoke at the conference, urged governments the world over to join hands to fight the endemic of cybercrime.
Some of the participants cited the case of a Nigerian youth, Ms. Cynthia Osokogu, who was lured and killed in Lagos, through cybercrime. The National Coordinator of the I-Nigerian Initiative, Ada Stella Apiafi, who described the campaign for cyber-security as timely, said the cyber world and its application should be for Education, Entertainment, and Commerce, to harness the great potential we have in Nigeria. Parents, she affirms, have a pivotal role to play in supervising how, and what sites their children visit, bearing in mind that the average Nigerian child is quite intelligent, smart and eager to explore new frontiers.
Ordinarily it is expected that parents should teach their children the use of technology, especially telephone usage. However, most parents are not as versatile or dynamic in the use of their phones as their children. Which begs the question: who supervises who? For adults it is difficult to balance what they do; with children it is even more difficult.
It is important to call on legislators and policy makers to have a critical look on how to protect children and youth from the ills of cyberworld. Guardians, especially parents, should closely monitor activities of their wards online and even on mobile phones. The National Assembly should quickly pass into law the proposed bill on cyber security with stringent punishments against violators.
Stellamaries Amuwa, Maitama, Abuja.