NerdzFactory Company and Meta have announced the launch of SafeOnline 2026, the seventh edition of their digital security program, marking 6 years of sustained collaboration to equip young Nigerians with the knowledge and tools to browse the web securely and responsibly.
Since its launching in 2020, SafeOnline has actually grown from a school-based digital security effort into among Nigeria’s many consistently provided youth-focused programmes, reaching 54,718 individuals throughout six editions, including 42,260+ students, 7,789 NYSC corps members, 3,326 parents and educators, 1,220 Youth Ambassadors, and 123 Fellows, across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, and Ekiti States.
SafeOnline 2026 represents a deliberate development of the program, shaped by a digital landscape that has fundamentally altered given that 2020. Artificial Intelligence is now central to how young people gain access to details, create content, and engage online, and with that comes a new set of risks they require to be equipped to browse. Under the theme Structure Safe, Healthy and AI-Aware Digital Communities, this edition anchors its shipment on three focus areas: AI literacy, digital security, and digital wellness. For the very first time, the programme will expand beyond South Western Nigeria to target all 6 geopolitical zones, to reach over 8,900 individuals, including 5,000 secondary school trainees, by the end of November 2026.
A defining function of SafeOnline has actually always been its belief that youths are not simply the audience, they are the solution. Trained Youth Ambassadors, picked and geared up by NerdzFactory, have regularly shown that peer-led shipment develops the type of trust and importance no external facilitator can reproduce. In 2026, this conviction deepens through AI Literacy Circles: structured, ongoing knowing groups where teens engage with AI awareness, accountable innovation usage, and healthy online behaviour as a continuous conversation, not a one-off session.
“Six years in and 7 editions strong, we are more persuaded than ever that digital safety is a constant investment in youths. This seventh edition takes that further, equipping them not just to stay safe online, however to comprehend and navigate a world significantly formed by AI.”– Ademulegun Olowojoba, Establishing Partner, NerdzFactory Company
Beyond school and community delivery, SafeOnline 2026 includes a household engagement element, equipping moms and dads and guardians with useful tools to support safe digital behaviour in your home, and a policy roundtable convening roughly 30 stakeholders from government, education, the private sector, and civil society, including the Federal Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth Advancement, and NITDA. This policy hair guarantees that programme outcomes feed directly into nationwide conversations on youth online security and AI governance.