LECTURERS, STUDENTS DIFER ON CYBER CRIME

By NBF News

Students and lecturers of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have expressed divergent opinions on the dangers of cyber crime in the country.

They expressed these views at a workshop organised by a student group, PHRENDS, at the university campus on Wednesday.

While some lecturers condemned cyber crime phenomenon in the country, some of the students, who commented on the issue, urged the government to harness the potentials of youths engaged in cyber crime.

Coordinator of PHRENDS, Mr. Nwosu Ebuka, who is a student of Microbiology, described cyber crime as a vice, stressing that scammers hadnothing to offer Nigeria.

Secretary of PHRENDS, Mr. Ayodeji Omole, said the group was out to redirect the mindset of students away from crime and violence.

A student, Ibrahim Mobolaji, said the government should support cyber crime suspects by utilising their potentials in developing ICT in the country.

A lecturer, Prof. A. Adekoya, said the government must channel the potentials of people engaged in cyber crime into profitable use, stressing that the phenomenon represented the paradox of knowledge, which entailed the good and the evil.

Adekoya explained that youths engaged in cyber crime used it to achieve negative ends.

Another lecturer, Dr A Ajadi, said government must invest in education in order to curb cyber crime wave in the country.

But another lecturer, Dr Kukoyi Bonne, supported cyber crime among youths, saying they should not be seen as criminals inasmuch as they were not caught.