Over the years, Nigeria has acquired the notorious tag of a fraud haven. And if recent revelations by the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Barrister Ola Olukoyede, are anything to go by, that tag is not disappearing any time soon. Speaking with newsmen at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the EFCC boss stunned Nigerians when he disclosed that the commission had discovered advance fee fraud (419) training schools in the 36 states of the federation! According to him, the fraudsters appear to be catching Nigerian children early, and the country is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. He said: “There is what we call Yahoo Yahoo training schools, where they harvest our children from primary schools. When they leave their regular schools, where they close at 2pm, they end up in some of these 419 training schools.”
According to Olokoyede, the 419 schools indoctrinate the children and even get letters of undertaking from their parents, while some of the schools adopt the children and pay their school fees! He added: “They start indoctrinating them. These are facts. They first of all ask them, even their parents, to sign undertaking. After that, they adopt them. Some of these schools start paying their school fees. They get indoctrinated into cybercrime as young as they are. By the time they get to secondary school, oh! That is why you see them in 100 level, 200 level, hacking into accounts and you think they just started that way, no.”
Olukoyede lamented that perhaps parents and adults closed eyes to some of the developments, thinking that all was well with the country. He said that the trend started some 15 years ago, pointing out that it is the responsibility of parents to teach the young ones how to do the right things, adding that he would feel fulfilled if the work of the EFCC could guarantee that. His words: “Go to Nigerian universities. There is no exception: even children from rich homes are into it. It has become a trend. And these are the people we want to hand over the future of our nation to? The responsibility is ours as their leaders to let them know that this is wrong. There is no future in these things. We have to tell them that in life, greatness comes from hard work and commitment. If that is the only lesson I am able to pass across to them by the virtue of the work we do, I am okay.”
To say the very least, the revelation by the EFCC boss is unsettling. One of the major factors for the widespread terrorism in the country is the recruitment of children by the terrorists who have consistently placed Nigeria on a prominent spot on the Global Terrorism Index. Only recently, the governor of Katsina State, Mr. Dikko Radda, said that ‘bandits’ were recruiting young people into crime for as low as N500! Governor Radda made this revelation during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme. According to him, poverty is one of the major factors fueling banditry in the country. Previously, on May 29, 2021, the Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, had indicated that Boko Haram terrorists were offering as low as N5,000 to recruit informants and weapons smugglers. Zulum made this disclosure during a broadcast to mark the Democracy Day and the second anniversary of his administration. Now, if Nigerian children are being recruited into fraud cartels, the implication is that many of the country’s children will end up as terrorists and fraudsters in future. That is a scary prognosis and all right-thinking Nigerians must be deeply concerned about it.
There is no determination and commitment to hard work, especially among many of the younger population, as the path to success, prosperity and fame. Integrity no longer has meaning to many: the tribe of those who believe in cutting corners to make it in life is increasing by the day. Parents and guardians have abdicated their responsibility of moulding the character of their children and wards, in large part because in today’s society, money has become the key instrument that life is measured by. The idea of questioning or scrutinizing the source(s) of sudden wealth and affluence has become anathema. Religious leaders glorify the rich and the opulent who promote profligacy and corruption. Traditional rulers join in the vainglory of celebrating scoundrels who have undermined all laws of decency to acquire wealth, all to the peril of the entire society. Popular culture in music and movies promotes fraud and dark practices. There is even an association of mothers of Yahoo Boys! This situation is certainly bad for the individual, the family and the country. Image and integrity are important.
Naturally, the monetary implications are beyond grim. Between July and September 2020, Nigeria’s Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, lost N3.5 billion to fraud-related incidents, representing a 534 per cent increase from the same period in 2019 when it was N552 million. A report by the Financial Institutions Training Centre revealed that Nigerian bank customers lost a total of N2.72 billion to fraud in the first and second quarters of 2022. Between 2019 and July 2023, the customers lost N50.5 billion to banking-related fraud following the cash crunch that accompanied the naira redesign and cash withdrawal policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Data obtained from the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that losses to fraud in the financial industry in the first quarter of 2023 stood at N51 billion. The figure rose to N9.5 billion by July 2023. Recently, reports indicated that Nigerian banking customers lost a whopping N51 billion savings to fraud, even as cybercriminals are now targeting Fintech bank customers. Troubling as these figures are, things are going to get worse if the alarm raised by the EFCC boss is not treated with the seriousness it deserves by both the government and the country at large.
Members of the political leadership must realise that it is in their enlightened self-interest to desist from their pernicious practice of pillaging the treasury. Parents must steer their children in the right path, completely away from fraudulent practices. There are boundless opportunities in the arts, sports and other sectors that Nigerian children and young people can tap into. Investment in fraud is not the way to go. It is time to act before things degenerate further.
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