Mixed Reactions Trail Obaseki’s ICT Training Programme For Repentant ‘Yahoo Boys’

Reactions have trailed the recent announcement by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, that his administration is planning advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training for repentant internet fraudsters, popularly known as “Yahoo Boys,” in the state.

Obaseki had last Friday during a rally in the state, disclosed that the repentant fraudsters would be trained in advanced ICT as well as other vocational skills in his proposed technology park in the state.

He had said, “I will train young boys who do ‘yahoo’ to work in our technology park. We will train them and ensure they become more useful to society.”

The governor did not, however, mention  the number or identity of these fraudsters.

Reacting to the plan, a security expert, Ben Okezie, in an interview with THE WHISTLER, kicked against the move.he said the governor should rather redirect the attention of the “yahoo boys” to farming, away from the internet.

Okezie feared that any training on ICT advancement might only increase the rate of crime.

He said: “The best strategy to use in rescuing these boys is to divert their attention from anything internet to farming, so that they will not go back to crime. This is because when you now expose them more to the internet which they have been using for fraudulent activities, you’re not going to help them. Redirect their attention to farming, let them be making money from there, then the internet can be used for the purpose of selling their products.

“He should redirect their attention. That was the same system that was used for the Niger-Delta militants. They redirected their attention to education, and removed them from the environment; they have to send many of them on scholarship abroad. And while they were there, all those mentality fizzled out and they would not want to go back to the creeks for any militancy.

“So these boys that are into internet fraud, into making fast money, you slow them down by building an environment for them, either a village for them. Put them there, and then put them in the farm. A vehicle will come and pick them to the farm and bring them back. And while they’re in the village, they can also be learning tailoring, hair cutting, welding and so on.

“There are many jobs that you can give them that they will be useful to the society and to themselves, because the major purpose is to make money. You make them have money through the legal and truthful way. That is the best thing the government can do for them. What is the instrument of internet fraud? Is it not the internet?”

On his part, another security expert, Kabir Adamu, believes that such a move or plan is a laudable one, as according to him, the country has a large army of unemployed youths.

Adamu, however, feared that the plan might be seen as a way of encouraging criminality.

He noted: “Given the fact that we have a large number of youths in Nigeria and the majority of these youths are unemployed, then any move that will empower them functionally to contribute in a positive way to society should be encouraged. So, to that extent, any skill acquisition programme that is targeting the youths is a very good move. It will definitely, in the long run, help the security of that state.

“The only challenge I see is the possibility that we are indirectly encouraging criminality and lawlessness. If we do that and we do not also attend to the youths that do not engage in any form of crimes; an average youth will ask himself – so the only way I will get recognition is to become a criminal or take up a gun and become lawless and then government will see me and then give me some form of compensation.”

He called on the government to create a balance by attending to other law abiding youths in the state.

He stated: “So we have to create a balance. While he’s also attending to these repentant fraudsters, there is also a need to attend more to those ones that are not doing anything against the law, so that it is seen that obeying the law is rewarded, not that when you disobey the law you’re rewarded.”

Internet fraud is highly prevalent in the country as there is hardly a day that passes by without arrests or arraignment of suspects by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies.

The majority of those who engage in the crime are mostly youths within the age bracket of 18 years and above.

Recall that last year, 77 Nigerians were charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for massive fraud in America.