THE recent two-part exposé in this newspaper, titled: ‘Exposed! How teenage boys are lured into selling nudes for cash (1) and (2)’, has cast a harsh light on the expanding underworld of online child sexual exploitation in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s federal, state, and local government authorities must confront this scourge with utmost seriousness.
At the centre of this sordid revelation is a shadowy figure known as @Hidden_Domain, a predator orchestrating the trade of nude images of Nigerian teenage boys across platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.
The eight-month investigation uncovered the syndicate’s tactics, traced financial flows to a tier-one Nigerian bank, and identified at least 26 young victims.
Public outrage has been swift, but what is needed now is more than noise; it is decisive national action.
This is not just a Nigerian crisis; it is a global emergency. Worldwide, child sexual exploitation is surging at an alarming rate. The Childlight Global Child Safety Institute and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children have declared child sexual exploitation and abuse a public health emergency.
They estimate that over 300 million children globally are subjected to technology-facilitated sexual abuse each year.
These staggering numbers are not mere statistics, they are a damning indictment of society’s failure to protect its most vulnerable.
The situation in Africa is especially troubling. While data collection remains fragmented, reports from UNICEF and INTERPOL reveal a growing trend of child pornography, sextortion, and online grooming targeting African children, particularly those from low-income or unstable homes.
In Nigeria, where digital literacy among parents remains low and law enforcement lags behind technology, predators flourish in the shadows.
Perpetrators like @Hidden_Domain exploit common tactics to ensnare minors. They pose as peers or benefactors, offering money, data subscriptions, or emotional validation.
Once trust is secured, children are coerced into sending explicit content. These images and videos are then circulated in encrypted groups or sold to consumers of child pornography.
Many children are blackmailed into silence, trapped by shame and fear of exposure.
PUNCH’s investigation found that some victims were unaware their images had gone viral, while others had lost hope in justice, believing no one would help them. This underscores the urgent need for trauma-informed support systems for victims and survivors.
This crisis threatens to rob Nigerian children of their innocence, safety, and futures. As the internet becomes more integral to their lives, it is also becoming a hunting ground for predators.
Studies from the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation show a 374 per cent increase in self-generated child sexual abuse content since 2019. Africa is becoming a prime target due to weak regulation, low enforcement capacity, and societal stigma around sexual abuse.
Protecting children demands a multi-stakeholder response.
Parents must assume their primary role as gatekeepers. Digital literacy should become a core aspect of parenting. Many Nigerian parents still believe the greatest danger is outside the home, when today it may be inside their children’s smartphones.
Open conversations about online safety, suspicious interactions, and digital boundaries must become routine in Nigerian households.
Tools such as parental control apps, content filters, and monitoring platforms should be actively used. Most importantly, parents should foster trust so that children feel safe reporting abuse.
Civil society organisations and religious groups should intensify digital literacy campaigns, especially in rural and suburban communities. The government alone cannot reach everyone; CSOs have the local knowledge and community trust to break through cultural silence.
Programmes that educate children about grooming, sextortion, and safe internet habits should be integrated into school curricula, empowering children to say no, to report, and to understand that abuse is never their fault.
Government agencies must step up. Despite NAPTIP’s commendable efforts, many of Nigeria’s child protection institutions are underfunded, understaffed, or technologically ill-equipped.
The Child Rights Act (2003) is outdated and urgently needs review. It lacks strong references to online harm, digital privacy, and grooming. Such concepts are now central to child safety. Its implementation across all 36 states is inconsistent, with some states yet to domesticate or enforce it.
The Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 also requires updating to address emerging digital threats, including AI-generated child abuse materials, encrypted abuse sharing, and digital grooming.
Enforcement agencies must be properly resourced and trained to proactively tackle these crimes. Many police officers remain unaware of how to track, trace, or prosecute tech-based crimes against children. This must change. Those involved must be diligently prosecuted, and the stiff punishment imposed.
Children must learn that their bodies are their own and that no one has the right to solicit their images. If they are ever blackmailed, they should know they can report it and be protected. Safe school spaces should provide age-appropriate digital safety training.
The culture of silence, shame, and fear must be dismantled with affirming, trauma-informed care.
Social media platforms must take greater responsibility. Telegram has become a haven for illegal groups due to lax policies.
Nigerian regulators, including the National Information Technology Development Agency, must hold tech companies accountable for failing to protect users.
Reporting mechanisms should be seamless and child-friendly. Encrypted platforms must work with authorities to ensure abuse cannot be concealed under the veil of privacy.
By framing child sexual abuse as a public health emergency, Nigeria would join a global movement that prioritises prevention over punishment. Just as vaccines prevent diseases, education and systemic protections can prevent exploitation.
This framework, endorsed by the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF, encourages data collection, risk analysis, early intervention, and coordinated action.
The government should fund national data collection on online abuse, which is currently poor. Without numbers, we are blind. Without evidence, we are mute. The new ‘Atlanta Declaration,’ led by Childlight and ICMEC, offers a useful starting point for Nigerian policymakers to develop a national roadmap. This must be a priority.
To protect Nigerian children from digital predators, the government should establish a dedicated directorate for child online safety within the Ministry of Women Affairs or NAPTIP. It should require tech companies operating in Nigeria to implement child protection mechanisms, report abuse, and deplatform offenders.
Law enforcement officers should be trained in cyber-forensics, abuse detection, and child protection, and digital safety should be introduced into the national education curriculum, starting at upper primary levels.
Survivors must have access to trauma-informed victim services, including legal aid, therapy, and relocation support.
The government should also launch public awareness campaigns, particularly in underserved communities.
Nigeria can no longer afford to react only after harm has been done. Every video, every image, every message of abuse destroys a life. Nigeria must act now to protect its children, not just in physical spaces, but also in the vast and perilous online world.
Let this be the moment the digital safety of Nigerian children is finally prioritised. Not tomorrow. Today.
Let this be the moment when the digital safety of Nigerian children is finally prioritised. Not tomorrow, but today.
