CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF NIGERIAN CHILDREN TO RECEIVE INFORMATION AND THEIR EXPOSURE TO PORNOGRAPHY ON THE INTERNET: A CASE FOR EFFECTIVE LEGISLATIONS

Abstract

Nigeria, like most part of the third world is desperately trying to play catchup in information technology (IT). Consequently, internet is gradually being made available to all and sundry including children. Several State governments are providing internet facilities in schools on the assumption that it will aid research capacities. Along with research materials, and also information, come pornographic materials1 . Generation and distribution of pornographic materials2 is growing like wide fire. This growth is fuelled primarily by spread and easy availability of internet facility all over the world. It is estimated that as at 20083 about 7% or 260million pages in the world wide web (www)4 are made up of pornographic materials. Research has shown that the spread of pornography on the internet has affected every age group. Children are increasingly vulnerable. Influence of internet pornography on children can take the form of children being used at the main actors in the production of pornographic materials5 or children being exposed to sexually explicit websites on the internet6 . The latter is our concern in this paper.