Tema, Aug. 24, GNA – Members of the Ningo Prampram Youth Parliament have been empowered to manage activities within the cyber space especially on social media.
At a seminar on the theme: “Digital resilience, the role of the Ghanaian youth today and the future,” the Youth Parliament were encouraged to be vigilant in their communities and inspire their colleagues to adhere to healthy cyber practices in order not to be victimized within the space.
The Resource Person, Madam Awo Aidam Amenyah hinted that digital resilience was now a critical component of human lives since no one could live outside the digital space.
“Therefore, until each and every one of us understand our role and how we can conduct ourselves within the cyber space we would do things we would live to regret, so there was the need to promote safety and responsible use of the space,” she said.
Madam Amenyah, who is also the Executive Director of Child Online Africa, observed the need to focus on children and businesses, government establishment, to protect the cyber space.
She called for the protection of children stressing that such abuses occurred when young people were posting all manner of things online without understanding the implications.
“Chances are that we are going to have leaders of tomorrow who are irresponsible because of the footprints they have created unknowingly.
“So if they are made to understand the nuances of the space and they are able to do the needful we would end up having a safer space which is conducive for everyone without anybody having to be bullied for an action they have been engaged in,” she explained.
She observed that, with the Cyber Security Act in force in Ghana, there was the need to educate the youth on the position of the law to avoid criminal activities online.
The Executive Director of Child Online Africa said when that happened the nation would be building an army of digital literates “because we have so many digital illiterates in the system, because the fact that you are able to use a cell phone does not make you a digital literate; your ability to combine behaviour with your skills is what makes you literate.”
The Majority Leader of the Youth Parliament in Ningo Prampram, Mr. Solomon Djangmah said cyber resilience was a call in the right direction because of the need to protect children since parents were providing smart devices for them and the children were exposed.
Mr. Djangmah, who was also the Presiding Member of the Ningo Prampram District Assembly (NiPDA) asked government to invest in the youth in terms of cyber resilience so that the future leaders of Ghana would not destroy themselves on social media before they eventually became leaders.
Mr. Ernest Atta Boateng, the Ningo Prampram District Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA), said the setting up of the youth parliamentary system was necessary since it could address issues such as cyber resilience among the youth by bringing it up for discussion.
Members of the Youth Parliament in the Ningo Prampram district are drawn from the 22 Electoral Areas in Ningo Prampram from the various youth groups.
GNA