Get Guardian on GoogleA behavioural change campaign to protect secondary school students from online harm was yesterday unveiled in Lagos State by a non-governmental organisation, the Akin Fadeyi Foundation (AFF).
In collaboration with the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), the foundation introduced the ‘Be Safe initiative,’ a programme tailored to curb sextortion, cyberbullying, digital exploitation and other vices thriving in the digital space.
The initiative was formally launched at a sensitisation workshop attended by students drawn from schools across Lagos.
Addressing journalists at the event, AFF Founder, Akin Fadeyi, said the project was conceived to help teenagers navigate the internet with caution and responsibility.
He explained that the curriculum would expose participants to ways of safeguarding their privacy, identify online predators, and seek redress through lawful channels when abused.
Fadeyi stated that the partnership offered his organisation a platform to take its values campaign into classrooms, stressing that national reorientation must start with young people whose lives are heavily shaped by social media.
He argued that conversations about Nigeria’s challenges often focus solely on leadership failure, while personal ethics and everyday behaviour are overlooked.
He decried a culture where people prefer to record victims at accident scenes rather than intervene, and where some individuals weaponise online platforms to bully, defame and extort.
Fadeyi cautioned that without deliberate education on digital ethics, the increasing number of Nigerians connected to the internet could compound existing social problems.
He said under the initiative, learners would be taught the legal and emotional fallout of circulating explicit content, issuing threats, peddling falsehoods and demanding money under the guise of possessing nude images.
He charged students facing blackmail not to suffer quietly, but to utilise reporting channels, pointing out that silence only emboldens perpetrators.
Child protection specialist and Executive Director of Stop the Abuse Against Women and Children Foundation, Toyin Ndidi Taiwo-Ojo, advised parents to regulate their children’s access to internet-enabled devices.
Taiwo-Ojo noted that minors are highly susceptible to online manipulation because they lack the experience to detect danger masked as friendship.
She pointed out that the convenience of giving phones to children for learning or to keep them engaged comes with grave implications.
“Children online are being cyberbullied. Some are being groomed for sexual exploitation, while others have even gone ahead to commit suicide,” she warned.
Also, Lagos State University of Education (LASUED) don, Associate Professor Shade Adeyemi, tasked parents and caregivers with enforcing online limits and showing interest in what their wards consume on the internet.
Adeyemi said it is naive to assume that children only browse for academic purposes, as many platforms harbour predators, drug marketers and explicit content merchants.
She noted that Artificial Intelligence has expanded both opportunities and risks, making digital boundary-setting essential for children’s mental health and safety.
