The Federal Ministry of Justice has again cautioned young Nigerians against falling victims of cyber-criminals and sextortionists.
Speaking at a cybercrime awareness program organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja for high school students over the weekend, a Legal Attaché from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charles Smith, warned Nigerian students to be wary of criminals who now use sextortion, the latest trend in cybercrime, to rob them of their dignity.
The three-day program, titled “Don’t Fall a Victim, Don’t Perpetrate,” aims to raise awareness among secondary school children and young people about cyber-related crimes such as cyberbullying, Internet fraud, identity theft, online solicitation of minors, and other similar offenses.
Smith, who gave the admonition at the event said: “There is need to educate secondary school students and provide them with the necessary information to safeguard them from cybercriminals, particularly those involved in sextortion,”
Also speaking, an IT expert from Odyssey Educational Foundation, Chinedu Kalu emphasised the significance of raising awareness among children, pointing out that their high level of engagement with new technological applications exposes them to potentially harmful content.
Going forward, a group of students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) called on the government to include cybersecurity education in the secondary school curriculum nationwide as a way of curbing the trend.
Two students, Miss Chisom Ifeanatura from Government Secondary School, Kubwa, and Master Emmanuel Jaiyeola from Government Secondary School, Garki, who spoke to newsmen called on the federal government to provide online protection protection for youths and students in colleges and emphasised the widespread use of the Internet and mobile smartphones, which makes such protection necessary.
