The Ministry of Women Affairs says it is collaborating with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Interpol to check online harassment against young girls in the country.
Ms. Jummai Mohammed, Director, Child and Focal Officer, Online Sexual Exploitation, in the ministry disclosed this at a webinar in Abuja on Friday.
The meeting on Safe and Inclusive Online Spaces for young girls was organised by Plan International, a development organisation to commemorate International Day of the Girl.
Represented by Mr. Ali Madugu, a Deputy Director in the department, Mohammed explained that the partnership was necessary to track and bring the perpetrators of such offences to book.
She said the government would not tolerate any form of harassment of young girls on online platforms as it would do everything possible to protect girl child in the country.
She added that online sexual harassment was a global issue hence the need to involve relevant stakeholders to curb it.
According to her, with this collaboration, offenders perpetrating such evil in any part of the world againt Nigerian girl can be tracked in Nigeria.
The director noted that the online sexual harassment was an emerging issue and must be addressed holistically.
She disclosed that she was aware that the National Assembly was working to review the Child Right Act to capture all these emerging issues like online sexual harassment.
In her remarks, Ms Maryam Gambo, Executive Director, Child Protection and Women Empowerment Initiative in Yobe, called for aggressive education and awareness on online sexual harassment.
Gambo said young girls needed to be educated on their rights which should not be violated on online social media.
She said measures to be taken to address this menace because with time, online sexual harassment would be more than the physical cases being recorded.
She stated that preventive measures were necessary, adding that young girls should prevent themselves against online sexual harassment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants were drawn from various Non Governmental Organisations working for protection of girl child across the country. (NAN)
