The Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC) and the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) and the Google have formally agreed to infuse online safety courses into the Nigerian school curriculum.
The signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) formalizes the mutual interaction and strengthens the relationship between the NERDC and PPDC at the strategic and working level focusing on the development of a standalone online safety curriculum as well as infusing it into the existing computer science course and other relevant courses in the country.
The Communications Lead of the centre, Mbanan Mku, said that the PPDC is a citizens’ sector organization that seeks to promote increased citizens participation in governance.
“Digital Inclusion and Safer Internet (DISI) is one of the core programs of PPDC that seek to promote universal access to ICTs in a way that preserves the safety and freedom of the internet. The program has two main activities, Safer Internet Day and Webrangers Program.
Both activities promote the safe and responsible use of the internet among young internet users as they explore, maximize and utilize all the benefits the internet offers.
“The program is supported by Google. This MOU provides for continued strengthening of future cooperation between NERDC and PPDC in achieving common goals that will successfully achieve the adoption of online safety courses in the Nigeria school curriculum,” Mku said.
Speaking during the signing ceremony the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, stressed the need for private and public partnerships and also commended the move made by PPDC and Google in ensuring that the Nigerian child gains knowledge on how to be responsible and safe in the online world.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Film Integrity Awards (Homevida) with support from Google, held a policy makers training and panel discussion yesterday in Abuja tagged: “Promoting safety across online platforms through established control measures, people sensitization and self-regulation”.
In her opening remarks, Homevida program officer, Nnenna Gabriella Eze, said the purpose of the training and panel discussion is to engage with relevant stakeholders who will discuss and highlight the benefits of the internet and also educate citizens on the effects of hate speech and importance of fact checking information to curb the spread of fake news while also using the internet to promote democracy.
The training and panel discussion enlightened both policy makers and citizens on the benefits of the internet in promoting democracy, countering hate speech and increasing citizen’s participation in governance.
The event which was part of the 2018 Zuma film festival, organized by Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), seeks to recognize and reward excellence in the Nigeria motion picture industry.
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