The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has said Nigerian youths are getting deeply involved in all manner of cybercrimes.
He said this was harmful to their future and would tarnish the country’s image, adding that the economy can only grow if corruption is tackled.
The EFCC boss had on Thursday stated that the country lost over $500m to the activities of internet fraudsters.
He also added that several international companies had to shut down their Nigerian operations following massive theft of their finances through local wire fraud.
Speaking in Abuja while addressing Batch B, Stream One corps members at the National Youth Service Corps, Orientation Camp in Kubwa, the EFCC boss said before the economy of the country could gtow, the scourge must be curbed.
A statement on Friday by the EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, noted that Olukoyede was represented by a Deputy Superintendent of EFCC, Abbas Umar.
He said, “Youths are getting embroiled in all sorts of cybercrime to the detriment of their future and the image of our nation. This is one undesirable situation that calls for concern.
“For our economy to grow and compete favourably with strides being made in other advanced economies, the scourge of corruption must be frontally tackled.”
He pointed out that economic and financial crimes directly put the fortunes of the economy and polity of Nigeria in jeopardy while criminality of such dimension puts foreign direct investment in uncertainty, slows down genuine efforts to build formidable structures in industries and greatly throws open the nation to avoidable complications.
The EFCC boss further charged youths to see corruption as an enemy to be destroyed and have a new insight into the disservice that corruption represents by willingly becoming change agents, active foot soldiers against corruption, community advocates and strong resisting forces against corruption as well as whistle-blowers or intelligence-gatherers.
“As young adults and youths serving the nation after graduating from various institutions, corps members should take a deliberate stand against economic and financial crimes and refuse to be drawn into any compromise of integrity,” he added.
In the same vein in Kwara State, the anti-graft czar spoke through the Head, of the Public Affairs Department, Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, Ayodele Babatunde called on the youths to channel their potential productively and shun crime.
The EFCC Chair stated that “yahoo-yahoo is not a sustainable way of life.
“The fact that the rate of unemployment is high should not be an excuse to resort to crime. The Act of criminality might deliver wealth in the short term but there will be misery and gnashing of teeth at the end,” he added