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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has set up a cybersecurity response team against sextortion and other forms of online sexual exploitation in response to the rising cases of online sexual exploitation.
NAPTIP Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, in a statement, on Thursday, explained that the team was made up of trained officers from different units and departments, and coordinated by the head of the national monitoring centre, and will leverage cutting-edge technology and expertise to identify perpetrators of cybercrime within our remit.
Director General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, in her remarks during the inauguration appealed to members of the task team to go all out against people engage in the sexual crime using the digital space.
She was optimistic that the setting up of the NAPTIP’s cybersecurity task team is a timely and thoughtful strategic step signaling an end to activities of human traffickers and other related syndicates in the country.
She, however, expressed concern over the careless attitude of some persons who, in the euphoria of emotion and love, let down their guard and naively share inappropriate content of themselves online or offline, hence she cautioned against such careless practices of indiscriminately sharing of intimate contents, and private information, with friends, and strangers in digital space.
Prof. Waziri-Azi, said: “We all know that the advent of technology has brought about unprecedented opportunities for communication and access to information. It has also created new avenues for criminals to exploit people, especially vulnerable women, and children.
“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, which was why, as an Agency, we must take a proactive and collaborative approach to tackle online threats.
“So, 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, has trained 20 officers from the headquarter and zonal commands on child sexual exploitation materials, open source and social media intelligence as well as online investigation.
“In addition, the unit is expected to work closely with other stakeholders in the digital space to enhance collective response to cybersecurity and online exploitation challenges.”
