TheCable

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says there is a surge of child assault content on the internet in Nigeria.

Fatima Waziri-Azi, director-general of NAPTIP, spoke on Thursday during the inauguration of a cybersecurity response team.

Waziri-Azi said there is a need to address the surge of online sexual exploitation and sextortion in the country.

She said Nigerians should stop disseminating intimate content with friends and strangers online.

“We all know that the advent of technology has brought about unprecedented opportunities for communication and access to information which has also created new avenues for criminals to exploit people, especially vulnerable women, and children,” the statement reads.

“We have seen incremental cases of child sexual assault materials on the internet, child pornography; sextortion, and revenge porn, and these are all forms of sexual exploitation.

“This is why as an agency we must take a proactive and collaborative approach to tackle online threats. So, NAPTIP in partnership with some organisations have trained 20 officers from the HQ to guide against this menace.

“NAPTIP in partnership with International Justice Mission (IJM), Meta, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau (INL), National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and UNODC, trained the officers on child sexual exploitation materials, open source & social media Intelligence as well as online investigation.

“The cybersecurity response team from different units and departments, is coordinated by the head of the national monitoring centre and will leverage on cutting-edge technology and expertise to identify perpetrators of cybercrimes within our remit.

“In addition, the unit is expected to work closely with other stakeholders in this space to enhance our collective response to cybersecurity and online exploitation challenges.”

The director-general said the cybersecurity task team was inaugurated to prevent attackers from causing damage to organisations or individuals targeted online.