The New Generation And The Alarming Increase In Cybercrimes.
The disturbing level of criminality, as seen in the rising number of Internet fraudsters has left the question of why so many in this generation, with an increased population and limited options to turn to, many now showcase prowess in being a man as society calls for, in illegitimate means. After all General George Patton has said "Duty is the essence of manhood"
Critically, an alarming number of the youths in Nigeria, especially the male folks have now turned to cybercrimes (Yahoo Yahoo), and the perpetrators' are nicknamed Yahoo boys.
Yahoo is the cultural name given to fraudulent persons who use the internet to defraud people. The name is common among Nigerians and the act is quite common among Nigerian undergraduates.
Meanwhile, the United States FBI, ranked Nigeria 16th most affected country by internet crime in 2020, with 443 complaints in that year. In 2018, commercial banks lost 15 billion naira to cybercrimes, and in 2020 the Covid 19 pandemic invited more cybercrimes.
Nonetheless, we could ascribe the problem of the increased number of cybercrimes, to the intense rise in population and the corresponding inability of the government to provide employment or an enabling environment.
The opportunities that previous generations had, held their hopes up for a sustainable standard of living. Opportunities that were not driven by favouritism, tribalism, religious discrimination, selfish interest. Opportunities that were strictly awarded based on merit.
Recently, Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana during an event dubbed the CABLE COLLOQUIUM, he asserted that the current situation of the country can be linked to the increased rate of cybercrimes.
"...and now EFCC is dealing with Yahoo boys including graduates, I laugh. You are going to be surprised if I tell you as young people, when we went to the university I did not pay school fees, apart from not paying fees government was paying us bursary and loans"
The admission process back then was not completely corrupt. Employment was equally not as Scarce as today, and do not forget an idle man is the devil's workshop.
As young adults, society place constant reminders of the impression that being a man comes with more responsibility, we see that in the title "head of the family", that doesn't just point to the role of taking decisions but to the factor of being able to provide the basic needs of man, as well as others. Society plays its part in grooming a gender that feels worthless without being able to meet up with its expectations and therefore runs to a fast, easy solution, not putting its legitimacy in mind.
On account of, family is where socialization begins, the bulk of the ideas we hold on to were taught in the family and some of the values taught, places more financial pressure on men and the focus here is the problem of what so much pressure on this gender has caused.
The pressure is one thing, the disturbing need to possess a large amount of money at a young age is another, yes the situation in the country calls for a lot of hard work but not in the sense we're seeing it.
Conclusively, there has been condemnation from the president and others, the former once said Nigerian youths are lazy, but they have failed to look at the many changes and denied opportunities amidst many factors as compared to earlier generations.
Perhaps the youths of this generation are not lazy but are faced with the pressure to achieve success amidst little options and though time has changed our definition of success may differ from the previous generation, and so the need for a firm and fierce push which is leading many astray.