The National Cybersecurity Coordinator, Office of the National Security Advisor, Sa’ad Abubakar, says age verification is a potential solution for online child protection.

Mr Sa’ad said this at a roundtable focused on identifying and addressing harmful online content, particularly around Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) on Tuesday in Abuja.

The event was organised by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioral Change (CABC), supported by TikTok.

Mr Sa’ad said the need for effective protection measures was paramount, given the challenges faced by the vast majority of children in online activities.

He stressed that discussions on protecting children’s online engagement were crucial at the government level, at the civil society level, and at the parental level.

Mr Sa’ad said that the children needed to understand the kind of information they could safely share online and how to navigate the online world responsibly.

He called on platform owners to develop and implement guidelines that would ensure children’s safety and well-being, adding that they have a significant role to play in protecting children online.

Earlier, Abiodun Essiet, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Community Engagement for the North-Central Region, stated that working with government agencies like the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) could strengthen privacy control.

Ms Essiet said it would also improve reporting systems and ensure that people feel safe online.

“When a violation occurs, justice must be served. You know, we need to also spread the message of how people did something wrong and they were arrested, or justice was served.

“We need to also create an awareness following the same route. This is how to build trust and send a clear message that violence has no place in our society, whether online or offline,” she said.

The manager of outreach and partnerships at TikTok, Duduzile Mkhize, said the company’s priority was to work with government stakeholders and regulators to develop workable policies that ensure operational efficiency.

“We know that minority groups such as women and children are more impacted by online violence and different things that happen in the online space.

“We have curated this event to get feedback from our stakeholders from the grassroots level on how we can make a difference to improve and to eliminate online tech-facilitated gender-based violence,” Ms Mkhize said.

(NAN)