Researchers across the world have estimated that about 90% of children between 12 and 18 years have access to the Internet. And this level of accessibility has raised concern about the number of children and adolescents who seek pornography beyond the traditional sources of magazine and films.
Sometime in 2007, there was this report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Nigerian school children who received laptops from a United States aid organization known as One Laptop Per Child used these gadgets to explore pornographic sites on the Web.
“Efforts to promote learning with laptops in a primary school in Abuja have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials,” the report said.
According to the Agency, pornographic images were discovered to have been stored on several of the laptops used by these children. An official of the American aid group was, however, quoted as assuring that the computers, which were part of a pilot scheme, would subsequently be fitted with filters.
Charles Uduyork is a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives in Abuja. Recently, he sponsored a bill tagged the Internet Child Pornography Prevention Bill 2019 which was first read on the House floor on July 10, same year.
It is not likely that Uduyork’s motion made any impression on his fellow Housemates as not much has been heard of the bill ever since. Rather, last year’s bill to check the spread of fake news by censoring the social media was pursued with vigour to the extent that it generated so much furore across the nation before being dropped like hot yam.
Going by reports, the anti-child porn bill seeks to ensure that no Internet Service Provider (ISP) licenced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) should permit the use of its service, irrespective of the medium, for sending, receiving, viewing, reading, copying or retrieving of sexual content involving persons below the prescribed age category. Penalty for any contravention of the proposed law would be a fine of N500,000 and/or two years imprisonment. The NCC is also mandated to withdraw the licence of any defaulting corporation or ISP.
It is true that Nigeria is seriously co-operating with the international community to tackle Internet scamming and other forms of cybercrime. There is even a penalty of N25 million and/or 15 years’ incarceration for such felony.
There had also been occasional attempts by the National Film and Video Censors Board to breathe down the necks of reckless film producers who were bent on circumventing the rules. Indeed, some producers were once in the habit of leaving out highly indecent scenes from their presentations in order to avoid censorship by the Board but only to include such parts in their promotional film trailers.
Before the prevalence of 3G smartphones in Nigeria, the nation’s newspaper stands and film sales outlets were often replete with pornographic materials displayed in patterns that left nothing to the imagination. Such spots became regular stop-bys for overtly curious child street hawkers. Yet the adult population trudged on while feigning ignorance of any serious implications.
But now that smartphones and laptops have brought the Internet into our children’s bedrooms only God knows what next. The increasing daily reports of rape and homosexuality can only result from little else. Again, we live in a country where the penalty for such crimes amounts to little or nothing.
Already, there is so much moral decadence in the land. How can we prohibit ogling at nude pictures when our very lawmakers who should lead such initiative are the guiltiest here? Oftentimes, they are known to hire bus loads of mostly young school girls to serve their pleasure while on oversight tours and during political party conventions. Some years ago, in India, the media sensationalised the story of a parliamentarian who was caught viewing pornography on his mobile phone right in the middle of plenary.
Still on moral bankruptcy, it is increasingly evident that our musicians now hardly compose a smash hit if such song is not laced with lurid lyrics. Their musical videos fall short of anything decent. And they are ever ready to pluck at any words, no matter how vulgar and demeaning to womanhood, in order to achieve a saleable rhyme scheme; just the same way a novel or film is considered a flop if it did not contain a powerful sex plot.
It is certainly not for nought that nude parties are gaining acceptability across Nigeria. The new Internet system of things is very good, no doubt, but we seem to be concentrating on its ugliest parts and this is fast ruining the country.
Web porn is an evil weapon. It is massive, manipulative, intoxicating and almost endless. And like narcotics, it can also be very addictive. In short, the earlier we pause and ponder our present circumstances, the better things will turn out for our succeeding generations.
South Africa is said to have since signed an Internet Censorship Bill prohibiting child pornography among other immoral Web activities. And this is as pornography remains outrightly banned in many other African countries, including Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. What exactly is Nigeria waiting for?

By: Ibelema Jumbo