Cybercrime in Nigeria: We are missing the point again -By Azuka Onwuka

Last week’s release of 78 names of some Nigerians accused of Internet fraud by the Federal Bureau of Investigations of the United States of America was not palatable news for Nigeria. For a country that is always portrayed in a bad light across the globe on misgovernance, corruption, poverty, disease, drug-trafficking, terrorism, kidnapping, Internet fraud, it was another reason for the world to stereotype Nigerians. Interestingly, Nigeria (like most other highly stereotyped groups) is never remembered positively when her citizens excel in different fields across the globe.

At home, an act of finger-pointing and washing of Nigeria’s dirty linen in public ensued. Because the names on the FBI list were mostly of Igbo extraction, the Igbo were condemned. A Twitter hashtag, “#IgboYahooBoys,” was created and it trended on Saturday. Consequently, the April 2019 list of those convicted of drug-trafficking in Saudi Arabia was brought up again, showing mainly Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani names. A new hashtag, “#YorubaDrugDealers,” was subsequently created, which trended on Sunday. The shame in this was that Nigerian ethnic groups were competing on the basis of crimes, not for feats achieved in science, technology, academics, business, sports or the arts.

This was exactly how kidnapping for ransom was relegated to the issue of finger-pointing until it spread to all parts of Nigeria in a menacing way. It started in the South-South in the early 2000s. Only expatriate oil workers were targeted. Nigerians laughed. Some justified it as a way of dealing with the Western people who had exploited Nigeria for long. Comedians made jokes of it, using popular Nigerians who were very fair-complexioned as the objects of their jokes. When this was going on around 2003, nobody knew that kidnapping for ransom would metamorphose into what it is today.

When companies provided extra security for their expatriate workers, and countries issued travel alerts on most Niger Delta states, it became hard to see an expatriate to kidnap. The kidnappers turned to top politicians or their relatives as their victims. Still Nigerians joked about it, saying that it served them well. Politicians also fortified their security or took their relatives away from places prone to kidnapping. Kidnappers began to target non-politicians who were well-to-do. The jokes began to fizzle out. The South-South people were excoriated as kidnappers. Nigerians felt good that they had found a group to blame.

By this time, kidnapping for ransom had spread to the neighbouring South-East. Many Igbo people stopped travelling home or conducting traditional ceremonies at home. The Igbo people became subjects of name-calling. To other Nigerians, such could not happen in their zones. Soon, kidnapping for ransom spread to the South-West, then the North-Central, and then the North-West and the North-East. By then, the finger-pointing had stopped. Most Nigerians were too shocked and embarrassed that their kinsmen were involved in kidnapping. Today, the finger-pointing on kidnapping had shifted to the Fulani.

The sad thing about the kidnapping for ransom was that little attention was paid to the cause of the scourge and the way to combat it. Most Nigerians were simply satisfied with branding the other ethnic group as criminals. Like in the current case of Internet fraud, most Nigerians are just concerned about name-calling without asking questions and seeking solution to the problem.

There are three crimes that have been attracting a high percentage of Nigerian youths: kidnapping, drug-trafficking and Internet fraud. The reason for the attraction is the high returns from these crimes. Secondly, the perpetrators believe that they are not involved in crime but simply trying to make ends meet in a difficult country. Kidnappers believe that they simply pick up someone who has a lot of money, collect a little out of the wealth and release the person. So, they assume that they are not causing any major harm by spreading the wealth around. Drug traffickers believe that they don’t kill anybody but simply provide a product that some people need. Internet fraudsters believe that they do not kill anybody but simply pay back the Western world for years of slavery, colonialism, and exploitation visited on Africa by collecting a little of the money “stolen” by the West from Africa over the centuries.

Among the three, Internet fraud is seen as the least dangerous. It does not involve the use of guns; it does not entail swallowing of substances that may burst in transit and kill the courier; it does not necessarily involve a gang. Internet fraud only requires a laptop. Above all, Internet fraud does not attract the death penalty if an accused person is convicted.

 And given that it requires good knowledge of the cyberspace, which appeals to the youth who are mostly online, it becomes most appealing to many youths. The high rate of employment in Nigeria provides a justification to those who engage in it. Some people start engaging in it right from the university. For some graduates, once they search for a job for six months without luck, the next bus stop becomes Internet fraud. There are many in it who are not even graduates.

Internet fraud is so widespread among Nigerian youths that it has become like an epidemic. On many occasions, security operatives have arrested and paraded gangs of Internet fraudsters from different parts of Lagos, Oyo, Delta, Edo, Anambra, Abia, Rivers, Abuja, and many other states in Nigeria. Anytime these young men are paraded, expensive cars are seen in their possession.

These young men see a Nigerian society that celebrates the wealthy. Politicians and rich people drive expensive cars and use sirens and police escorts to intimidate road users. The rich are celebrated in churches and mosques and are prayed for specially. They execute many community projects like roads, bridges, churches, schools, clinics, pipe-borne water, scholarships, etc. They are praised as illustrious sons and given chieftaincy titles. They attend social events and spray money, especially foreign currencies, to the admiration of the audience. Masters of Ceremonies and musicians at such events sing their praises and they respond with cash. Young men find this appealing.

Unlike in the past when parents and society asked their children the source of their wealth, no questions are asked these days. Even when a person is suspected to be involved in crime, as long as the person spreads the money around the community, every person looks the other way and pretends not to know the source of the wealth. Unlike in the past when churches preached salvation and godliness, most churches today give 90 per cent attention to prosperity. Those who hear these messages of “unparalleled and indescribable blessing” believe that what is important is obtaining this “blessing” and not how this “blessing” is obtained. They are told that the more they “sow” and the higher tithes they give, the more blessing they receive from God. The assumption is that once some of the money is given in church as offering and tithes and “good works” are done with it in society, the money has been “washed” clean and God will not be angry any more. What more, the giver is close to the “minister of God” who calls him regularly to pray for him and his family.

The value system in Nigeria has been destroyed. There is a race for disgusting money acquisition by all means. Corruption is so rife that it is an anomaly to go into a government office to get anything done without being asked for a bribe. Private companies are not spared. People who receive salaries of less than three hundred thousand naira per month have different types of expensive cars, houses, hotels, filling stations, and the like. Their children attend universities in Europe and North America. Their families go for holidays in Europe, North America or Asia. The tiny few who try to live a clean life cannot receive their meagre pension after retirement. They are ridiculed by society as unwise. Therefore, most people do not want to live a clean life in Nigeria anymore.

There is value system failure in Nigeria. Nigeria celebrates wealth without asking questions. Internet fraud will get worse in Nigeria, just as corruption, drug-trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and other money-related vices will get worse unless there is a complete change of our value system.

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