NerdzFactory Company and Meta have announced the launch of SafeOnline 2026, the seventh edition of their digital safety program, marking six years of sustained collaboration to equip young Nigerians with the knowledge and tools to navigate the internet safely and responsibly. Since its debut in 2020, SafeOnline has grown from a school-based digital safety initiative into one of Nigeria’s most consistently delivered youth-focused programmes, reaching 54,718 participants across 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 evolution of the programme, shaped by a digital landscape that has fundamentally changed since 2020. Artificial Intelligence is now central to how young people access information, create content, and engage online, and with that comes a new set of risks they need to be equipped to navigate. Under the theme Building Safe, Healthy and AI-Aware Digital Communities, this edition anchors its delivery on three focus areas: AI literacy, digital safety, and digital wellbeing. For the first time, the programme will expand beyond South Western Nigeria to target all six geopolitical zones, to reach over 8,900 participants, including 5,000 secondary school students, by the end of November 2026.
A defining feature of SafeOnline has always been its belief that young people are not just the audience, they are the solution. Trained Youth Ambassadors, selected and equipped by NerdzFactory, have consistently demonstrated that peer-led delivery creates the kind of trust and relevance no external facilitator can replicate. In 2026, this conviction deepens through AI Literacy Circles: structured, ongoing learning groups where teens engage with AI awareness, responsible technology use, and healthy online behaviour as a continuous conversation, not a one-off session.
“Six years in and seven editions strong, we are more convinced than ever that digital safety is a continuous investment in young people. This seventh edition takes that further, equipping them not just to stay safe online, but to understand and navigate a world increasingly shaped by AI.” — Ademulegun Olowojoba, Founding Partner, NerdzFactory Company
Beyond school and community delivery, SafeOnline 2026 includes a family engagement component, equipping parents and guardians with practical tools to support safe digital behaviour at home, and a policy roundtable convening approximately 30 stakeholders from government, education, the private sector, and civil society, including the Federal Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth Development, and NITDA. This policy strand ensures that programme outcomes feed directly into national conversations on youth online safety and AI governance.
