Safer Internet Day: 54% Nigerian kids face cyber risks –Report

A report from the DQ Institute has shown that, on the average, 54 percent of eight to 12 years old children in Nigeria are exposed to one or more cyber risks.
The data emerged just as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark Safer Internet Day 2018, today.
The inaugural DQ Impact Report summarises the current state of online child safety and digital citizenship. The study which was conducted in November 2017, included 38,000 participants ages eight to 12 years old across 29 countries.
The study stated that the specific cyber risks reported range from cyber-bullying, video game addiction, online grooming and online sexual behaviours when using online platforms.
The most prevalent cyber risk was found to be victimisation by cyber-bullying (37 percent), followed by exposure to inappropriate content (16 per cent) and video game addiction (14 per cent).
Founder of RAVE Et Al, Charity Babatunde, said in pursuit of her mission to reinforce values and ensure children are empowered with essential life skills imperative for successfully navigating life online and offline, her company has successfully collaborated with the DQ Institute to ensure the DQEveryChild movement is getting the necessary awareness in Nigeria.
Babatunde said she particularly enjoyed the DQ Framework’s focus on ‘digital footprints’, that encourages students to be careful of what they share and post online.
The report said Nigeria’s cyber-risk exposure is two percent lower than the global average of 56 percent.
“We must act quickly and take positive steps to help these children facing cyber-risks around the world, especially in ICT emerging countries,” said Founder, DQ Institute Singapore, Dr. Yuhyun Park.
To minimise children’s exposure to cyber risks when they use the Internet, RAVE Et Al has entered into collaboration with DQ Institute to infuse children in Nigeria with needed digital intelligence quotient through DQEveryChild as a vaccine to cyber-risks.