The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, has admonished students of secondary schools to always display a high level of responsibility whenever they are online, in other to be protected from cyber risks.
Abdullahi has also urged the smart device manufacturing and assembling company, Afrione to crash prices for more affordable devices. He made the demand during a visit to Afrione corporate head office on Thursday in Lagos state
The DG who was represented by NITDA’s Head, Digital Technology, Adoption, Digital Literacy and Skill Unit, Dr Ayodele Bakare, gave this advice to students in Abuja at this year’s inter-school debate organised by the Junior Chamber International, (JCI), and supported by the Agency.
The topic for the debate was ‘Should Social Media Be Encouraged Among Secondary School Students?’Mallam Abdullahi stated that, as secondary school students, using the internet facilities, it is expected of them to behave responsibly in order to be protected from psychological and physical risks that are common online.
According to the DG, some of the psychological risks the children could suffer if they are irresponsible online are; fear, low self-esteem, promiscuousness, violence, poor academic performance, among others. He added that; “among the physical risks you can experience online could be illness, injury, death, vandalization, and loss of finance.”
He stated further that, “your responsibilities online include; non-disclosure of personal information to strangers, avoidance of people or strangers that demand for too much information, turn down offers to meet online strangers, not the opening of emails or files from unknown sources, and always inform parents or teachers whenever you feel concerned about strangers online.
”The DG advised children to limit the time they spend online in order not to affect another sphere of their lives, particularly their academic performance. Mallam Abdullahi maintained that child online safety has become imperative in order to protect them from threats and risks because children are easily influenced by online contents.
He said, as a government agency, NITDA will keep on with advocacy and capacity building on online safety for minors. “Another way government is trying to protect children online is in the area of policy formulation, regulations and guideline on child online safety”, he said.
The President of JCI, Ajalat Aminat Aweke, said the aim of the debate is to discover another set of young lads among students in Federal Capital territory. She added that the topic for the debate captures the rave of the moment on the usage of social media among secondary school students. “The debate will form a robust discussion and form a framework for censorship,” she said.
About 10 Secondary Schools participated in this year’s debate where Government Secondary School Gwagwalada emerged first and was awarded three laptops and a 100,000 naira cash award. Government Secondary School, Mabushi, emerged second and went away with 75,000 Naira, while Government Girls Secondary School, Dutsen Alhaji, became the third winner and received 50,000 Naira award.
On Afrione pricing, Abdullahi said that reduction of the price of the smart devices is possible, citing the example of sim cards which were expensive at the beginning but now they are almost free. Similarly, the mainframe and early computers were of high prices but today they are affordable.
Abdullahi said, “as regulators, we stimulate demand for digital devices and what can you do to crash your prices so more Nigerians can have access to smart devices”.DG NITDA commended Afrione for their improvement especially in the aspect of the new device as he was taken on a tour of the factory.
He also presented the strategic Road Map and Action Plan and encouraged them to do more. While responding to Abdullahi’s demand, the CFO Afrione, Suloch Raja, said the company’s smart devices “can be compared to Samsung or any other device in the world in terms of affordability and quality with a year warranty.”
Raja added that “Afrione being the first African brand and first manufacturer and assembler in Africa as of today, is also planning to introduce new devices such as laptops which could be out by the end of the year.”
“Not a single tablet was sent back for anything regarding quality so we are confident that we will be able to get to your needs in cost and quality, slashing it down without compromising the quality,” said Raja. He added that “The devices will have specific educational applications that are being worked on, according to an institution such as universities, polytechnics and so on.
” We are focusing on the universities and schools as of now so we can target the students in such a way that after the government subsidies, it becomes very standardized, affordable at the best price and quality and in two years, we should have a classroom in each polytechnic”.
