SMW Re-enact Need For Implementation Of Cybercrime Act In Nigeria
SMW Re-enact Need For Implementation Of Cybercrime Act In Nigeria
. Experts call for updates of the Act to address violence against women
. Parent cautioned on too much exposure of children to technology
EXPERTS have stressed the need for the implementation of the Cybercrime Act in the country. The Act became a law in Nigeria in 2015.
Gathered at the fourth day of the Social Media Week in Lagos, yesterday, panelists urged faster implementation and stressed the need for its update in order to fully assist in the prosecution of violence against women and girls in Nigeria.
Speaking on the topic: ‘Using Technology & Social Media To Counter Violence Against Women And Girls,’ Coordinator, Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said the issue of pornography should be address in the Act.
Vivour-Adeniyi said that there should be legislation that would be consistent with time.
She said that violence against women and girls happened in different ways, hence, the need to update the law, to curb the occurrence.
The Executive Director of Stand To End Rape (STER) initiative, Ms Oluwaseun Osowobi, said that social media contributed to rape, violence against women and girls.
She explained that rape or violence against women and girls had no restrictions, as it could happen to any person of class and at any where.
To a Counsellor at Mirabel Center, LASUTH, Mrs. Joy Onoriose, said that 70 per cent of perpetrators of violence were familiar to the victims.
Onoriose said that many of the cases of violence happened to young girls, who do not know that they had been violated.
She said that most victims found it difficult or uncomfortable to voice out or come up for counseling, because of stigmatisation.
According to him, mothers need to educate their children on what rape is, build their confidence to report any of such cases.
”Parents should be very sensitive enough to know if their children are being violated and ask the right questions to get the truth from them,” she said.
Meanwhile, at another panel session, with the theme: ”Parenting in an era of Technology”, a session hosted by Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), speakers urged parents to apply wisdom as they train their children in an era of technology.
The Founder of LagosMums, Mrs. Yetty Williams, said that today’s children were born in the computer age, hence, were positioned to using technology.
Williams said that in parenting a child, there was always an answer to every question.
She said that the answers to children’s questions were not far away because of the use of Google.
”However, we have to let them know that not everything on Google is right or correct,” Williams said.
Human Resource Consultant, Prof. Yomi Fawehinmi, said that parents should be aware of technologies and allow the children to use them.
Fawehinmi said that parents should be observant to know when technology began to distract the children.
”There is the good and bad sides of the internet. We should not fight our children for using technology, because we will loose the battle.
”I am not afraid of technology, I am only afraid of those that do not use it,” he said.
According to him, children should be timed on when to go to the social media and maintain a sense of balance between the children and parents.
He said that apart from minimum age of 13 years meant to be on social media, parents should also set their own age limit.
From her perspective, an educational technologist, Dr Oluwakemi Olurinola, said that parents should help introduce the children to sites on the web that would assist them to develop.
Olurinola said that children should learn, while having fun on the internet, as parents monitored them.
”Instil value in them, they need to be monitored but they should know that monitoring is for love and care.
”We also need to know when to bridge the monitoring and there should be different strategies for different children,” she said.
SMW Re-enact Need For Implementation Of Cybercrime Act In Nigeria
SMW Re-enact Need For Implementation Of Cybercrime Act In Nigeria