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NIGERIA’S FIRST LADY TO SPEARHEAD COUNTRY’S GLOBAL CHILD ONLINE PREOTECTION INITIATIVE

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The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and
the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) have
appointed the First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency, Dame (Dr.) Patience
Goodluck Jonathan as ITU’s Global Child Online Protection (COP) Champion.

She received her letter of appointment at the State
House, Abuja, on Friday, May 10, from the Director of ITU’s Telecommunications
Development Bureau, Brahima Sanou and the Chairman of IMPACT, Datuk Mohd Noor
Amin, who met with Dame Jonathan to discuss issues on cyber threats and
cyber-security in the African region.

In her acceptance speech, the First Lady expressed
her willingness to partner with ITU-IMPACT, to address the safety and security
of children and youth around the world who, she noted, are among the top users
of the internet globally.

She described as commendable, the determination of
ITU-IMPACT to protect innocent children and youths around the world from
exposure to various forms of online abuses, such as pornography,
radicalization, trafficking and bully.

Dame Jonathan lamented that despite the unique advantages
of ICT advancements, unscrupulous elements still exploit it towards
compromising the safety and security of our children and youths, often for
pecuniary benefits.

A statement by the Special Assistant (Media) to the
First Lady, Mr Ayo Osinlu, said Dame Patience Jonathan expressed her pleasure
at the plans of ITU-IMPACT to build a partnership of various sectors of the
global community, particularly among the 193 member countries of ITU, for the
purpose of developing strategies for the control of access to and use of the
World Wide Web (www), to ward off cyber insecurity for children and youths.

She appealed to parents and guardians, especially
mothers, to make it a duty to show greater interest in monitoring and
controlling the engagements of their children and wards on the internet.

Dame Jonathan thanked ITU and IMPACT for the honour,
and promised to accord the task of protecting the world’s youths and children
from cyber threats.

In his remarks at the occasion, the Chairman of
IMPACT, Datuk Mohd Noor Amin said Dame Jonathan, who has won numerous accolades
for her charitable works involving women and children, will be the perfect
advocate for ITU’s Child Online Protection (or COP) initiative.

According to him, “Her Excellency, who is both a
progressive leader and renowned humanitarian, is the ideal candidate to help
ITU-IMPACT in its mission to push for COP awareness and the need for national
online protection framework to protect the young and innocent.”

 

Also speaking, the Director of ITU’s Telecom
Development Bureau, Mr. Brahima Sanou stated that the “COP framework has become
a crucial necessity to create 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 African region but
across the globe.”

Apart from the COP initiative, ITU and IMPACT are
looking at the possibility of setting up a Cyber-security Regional Centre in
Nigeria which will play an essential role in supporting the expansion of
ITU-IMPACT’s network globally by localizing cyber-security services to meet the
unique needs of the region. Nigeria has indicated their interest and intent to
host the Regional Centre under the ITU-IMPACT framework.

 

 
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