Google To Train 100,000 Nigerian Students In 5 Years For Safer Internet

Global search engine, Google yesterday disclosed that it would train no fewer than 100,000 Nigerian students across the nation in the next five years to stay safer online.

 Google-LogoSpeaking yesterday at the Queens College Yaba, Lagos to commemorate the 2016 Safer Internet Day held simultaneously across the globe, Titi Akinsanmi, Google’s Policy & Government Relations Manager said that the search engine will continue educate internet users on how best to stay safer online.

According to Akinsanmi,“a safe internet is undoubtedly good for everyone. We all use the internet, so it is important for government, the organised private sector and civil societies to continue to collaborate to develop and promote strong policies aimed at improving the safety of users while on the Web.

 As the online safety landscape continues to evolve, key stakeholders need to employ smarter tools that will ensure the online environment remains safe for everyone”.

 “We will be working with the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and HomeVida, to train over 10,000 Nigerian students via the Web Rangers face-to-face training sessions and via the newly launched online portal at www.saferinternet.org.ng” Akinsanmi added. 

As part of events commemorating the day, Google announced the launch of the Web Rangers program in Nigeria. 

The program which currently runs in 10 countries provides workshops which aims to train young people to become online safety ambassadors’ who will help raise awareness of online safety with their peers and in their schools.

 For the second year running, the 2016 edition of Safer Internet Day was organised in Nigeria by Google in partnership with the National Film and Videos Censors Board and Home Vida.

 This year’s edition with the theme “Play Your Part for a Better Internet”, was held in Queens College Yaba, Lagos in an interactive programme for Nigerian students to commemorate Safer Internet Day. 

As part of the activities for this year event, a training session and movie screening was conducted for 250 students and presentation of a paper on Safety Online.

 Discussions were also held with policy makers including the National Film and Video Censors Board; Nigerian Communications Commission; the Lagos State Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Internet Registration Association.

 Google also announced the launch of its Security Checkup tool which gives Google account owners a quick way to control their security settings, manage recovery phone numbers and control what devices are connected to their accounts. Google account owners who complete the Security Checkup by February 11th will get 2GB of extra Google Drive storage.

 Since 2004, Safer Internet Day (SID) has been celebrated on the second day of the second week of the second month of the year. SID seeks to promote safer and more responsible use of online technologies,now including mobile Internet.