By 
Worried over increasing exposure of young people to dangerous online content, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been educating parents about their role regarding child online protection. The Lagos Zonal Office of the NCC recently organised a sensitisation exercise on cybersecurity and cybercrime in order to equip parents with relevant knowledge needed to protect themselves online and be able to use same knowledge to protect their children and younger ones who use the Internet.
The cyber sensitisation programme is in line with the commission’s regulatory mandate of protecting, informing and educating telecom consumers in the country, said Controller, Lagos Zonal Office of NCC, Henry Ojiokpota,.
According to him, the programme is targeted at parents of the school-age pupils, and is designed to equip parents with the right knowledge they require to limit the exposure of their children to the negative aspects of internet use.
Ojiokpota, who was represented during the sensitisation by Joseph Dimka, a Principal Manager at the Zonal Office, said the cyber awareness programme has become necessary given the rising spate of criminal activities being perpetrated online.
Ojiokpota said because children listen to their parents in the area of counselling and taking parental instructions, targeting the parents was purposive because they will, in turn, pass the knowledge gained to train their children and guide the children’s exposure to cyber threats as they use internet-enabled smart devices.
The team from the Zonal Office took time to discuss and educate the parents on dimensions to cybercrimes and also equip parents with cybersecurity measures to take, stressing the critical role of parents in teaching the children on how to keep safe while online.
