Country of Residence
Nigeria
Age
20
Project title
Safe Online
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Safe Online addresses the problem of digital toxicity amongst Nigerian youths.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.facebook.com/share/18XRgAxWjp/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Pilot-Stage (We’ve tried an activity or two)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
In 2026, I was selected as a digital democracy champion by Brain Builder Youth Development Initiative primarily because of my background in digital disinformation as an OSINT research fellow with CJID-DUBAWA. During the community outreach we were expected to deliver, I facilitated a session on fact checking and one of the participants asked a damning question : “Why should I waste my time verifying information when I can’t even discuss my interests without fear of attack?” And that was it for me, I realized we are asking too much of young Nigerians. We preach civic participation without protection, just like people are scared to go out to vote because of election violence in real life. Young Nigerians are also afraid to share their political views and opinions because of online castigation, coordinated attacks, threats, bullying, propaganda and many other online harms. But the question is, what happens when people don’t speak up ? Then the bad actors would comfortably take control of the narrative which I don’t think we should allow to happen. That’s what started the ideation of the Safe Online Project.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
The internet has become a global village and many people, including young adults are active online. An NCC survey found that over 50% of Nigerian adolescents use the internet, and up to 93% of older teens go online on their own phones. A 2026 national survey found that 97.2% of Nigerian university students and media practitioners had seen false content online, yet many could not correctly identify misinformation. When young people are silenced or misled, translates to real world consequences and the feedback loop between citizens and government breaks. As a DUBAWA research fellow, I have seen how easily disinformation spreads and how few young people have been taught to defend themselves from it. And in Nigeria, where many parents who are to supervise young adults are unlettered, there is no one is teaching teenagers to be both safe and heard in the digital space.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
SafeOnline will be implemented in two segments in Sokoto State: training, then clubs First, we will hold a one-day, in-person trainings on digital safety and civic voice at one public senior secondary school, (500 students from SS1 to SS3), and at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS). Each session is led by experts in digital rights, online safety and fact-checking. We would cover online safety (privacy settings, scam recognition, responding to and reporting harassment, healthy boundaries) and misinformation (source checking, image and video verification, spotting emotional manipulation). We then connect both to civic life: how to raise an issue in your community, join public conversations and respond to online attacks without going necessarily disappearing out of fear. We will use short, varied activities instead of long lectures like role play (for example, responding to an online stranger's escalating requests), "Spot the Fake" games where teams race to flag false or manipulated posts, and peer case discussions in small breakout groups, each led by a trained volunteer. Second, after the trainings, we will establish a SafeOnline digital safety club at each institution: one in the secondary school and one at UDUS. The clubs meet regularly, led by students with support from our team, to keep practising fact-checking, run awareness sessions for fellow students, and take on issues in their communities. Every student also takes home a pamphlet to share with siblings, parents and peers.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
SafeOnline is still at an early stage, so this is the impact we are working towards. We will train 500 students at our host secondary school and 200 students at UDUS in practical digital safety and misinformation recognition. We will also establish two digital safety clubs, one at each institution, so the learning continues after the training day. Take home pamphlets will carry the lessons to siblings, parents and peers of the participants. We will measure learning with a paper-based quiz before each session and a practical assessment after it. In the assessment, students look at mock messages and posts, identify the red flag and choose the right action: ignore, verify, report or block. We use paper because connectivity in many schools is unreliable. The story we want to be able to tell is of a student who once stayed silent online for fear of attack, and can now verify a claim, protect herself and share her opinion. Over time, we expect less vulnerability to online exploitation, harassment and grooming, and more informed young people in public conversations about their communities. We believe it will work because students learn by practising, and the clubs give them a place to keep doing it together.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Three things set Safe Online apart. First, it grew from a real question a young Nigerian asked me, not from a template so it’s armored in lived experience. Secondly , it teaches through practice: role play, "Spot the Fake" games and peer discussion, with a practical assessment of applied recognition rather than recall of definitions. Thirdly, it doesn't end after one day. Most trainings are one-off events, but we leave behind a digital safety club at each institution, so students keep building skills and acting together. The public school and university model is also intentional, because we believe they have students with limited support or guidance from digitally savvy people. The project is also built for low-connectivity settings, with paper-based assessments and take-home pamphlets, so no app or stable internet is needed. And it is grounded in real verification work, as the project lead, I have significant OSINT and fact-checking experience as a researcher. In addition, as a law student and research assistant with Policiq Legal, a tech compliance firm, I have deep knowledge on technology governance and digital rights. So I’m bringing my expertise to planning and implementing the project.
How many people are on your team?
10
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
We are ten team of young Nigerians schooling at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto in diverse fields. I lead the team as the coordinator, Other members handle, with oversight, curriculum design, project planning , school coordination, pamphlet design, and communications and reporting. We make major decisions together, and each member leads a workstream so leadership is shared.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next three months, we will finalise the curriculum, get approval from hosting schools, secure partnerships and design and print the take-home pamphlets. We will then deliver the trainings at the secondary school first , then the University.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
The clubs are how we bring people in. Any student at the secondary school or at UDUS can join a SafeOnline club, learn the skills, and help run sessions for their peers. Students teaching students, in their own language and on their own terms, is far more convincing than adults lecturing them. We start with people who already care. EquiLens is a youth-led initiative at UDUS, and our events, such as the Women's Tournament, the girls’ blueprint, and others have shown that students show up when they see a cause that affects them. We will recruit facilitators from this network and train them in digital rights and fact-checking. At the secondary school, we would work through the principal and teachers, who select participating classes and help us reach students. To spread awareness beyond the two institutions, I will use my platforms as the Editor in Chief of Pen Press UDUS, the biggest campus based media outlet with over 52,000 following to publish stories on online harassment and misinformation, and we will share the trainings and club activities on social media. Pamphlets will reach families, and we will also invite partner organisations to attend or speak at our sessions.
