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Google.org is bringing its “Meet Leo” child online safety programme to Africa for the first time.
Mr. Olumide Balogun of Google Nigeria made this known in a statement on Wednesday.
He announced that two child online safety initiatives would be coming to Nigeria, pairing the country’s first nationwide research on how young people used the internet with hands-on training for the parents and teachers closest to them.
This development followed recent public consultations led by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), which found that 93.5 per cent of Nigerians were concerned about online harms facing minors.
Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, would be providing $550,000 in funding and $50,000 in Google Ad Grants to the TechSocietal Development Foundation.
With this $600,000 in support, TechSocietal would be conducting Nigeria’s first baseline study of youth digital risks, surveying 2,000 adolescents across all six geopolitical zones.
It would also deliver its Safety First curriculum to 5,000 teachers and school administrators, and train 200 community champions to reach up to 10,000 parents and caregivers, the release revealed.
According to Mr. Balogun, Google is also bringing Meet LEO, short for Learn and Explore Online, to Nigeria in the program’s first pilot in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Delivered by Tech Hive Advisory across four states, it would train 500 educators and youth leaders to set digital ground rules with tools such as Google Family Link, SafeSearch and YouTube Supervised Experiences, he said.
Furthermore, the release revealed that it would equip the students to pass the training on to 2,500 more students and community members.
According to him, the announcement comes as no fewer than 22 million Africans turn 18 every year, many of them on phones shared by several family members.
Governments around the world, including Nigeria’s, are weighing how to protect children online without cutting them off from what they learn there.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and today that village extends into the digital world, where protecting our children must never mean disconnecting them from their future,” he said.
Balogun said that protections were being built into their products by default, and by pairing them with local research through TechSocietal and educator training through Tech Hive Advisory.
Through this, they would be helping every Nigerian child learn and explore safely online.
”Protecting our children in the digital world requires active collaboration across government, technology platforms, educators, and families.
“The NDPC’s recent national consultations made it clear that Nigerians are deeply concerned about the risks young people face online” he said.
He added that Google’s support for nationwide research through TechSocietal, alongside the practical, grassroots safety training being delivered with Tech Hive Advisory through the Meet LEO programme, marked a significant and commendable step forward.
Similarly, Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner (NDPC), said that, “By combining local evidence with hands-on digital skills, we are building a safer, more empowering digital environment where every Nigerian child can learn, explore, and thrive”.
Also, Mr Ridwan Oloyede, Lead Partner Tech Hive Advisory, said “Bringing the first Sub-Saharan African pilot of Meet LEO to Nigeria puts usable safety tools directly in the hands of 500 frontline educators and youth leaders, creating a multiplier effect that will reach 2,500 learners”.
Tunde Ogundipe, Executive Director, Techsocietal Development Foundation, also said, that this support from Google would enable them unveil the country’s first nationwide baseline study of 2,000 adolescents across all six geopolitical zones.
The support will also equip 15,000 teachers and caregivers with the skills to guide young people safely through the digital world.
The experts revealed that the commitments would build on more than $3.5 million that Google.org has provided for online safety across Sub-Saharan Africa since 2020.
They included support that has reached 2.3 million Nigerians through 10 local organisations and trained over 43,000 young people with Junior Achievement Africa.
