Tech Expert Moves to Address Cybercrime among Nigerian Youths

Emma Okonji

Convener of the National Engineering Science and Technology Essay Competition (NESTEC), Michael Akan has called for partnership between Blue Apple and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), in order to address the menace of cybercrime among Nigerian youths.

Akan who made the call during the second edition of NESTEC competition, which held in Abuja recently, said the move would help to harness youth potential in digital skills development.

According to him, the EFCC had been doing well in recent times by arresting and prosecuting youths who are into cybercrime, popularly known as Yahoo Yahoo. He noted that more youths were going into the crime, which he said, calls for urgent need for the commission to adopt a new approach to addressing the challenge. He is particularly worried that the impact of such arrest and prosecution by the EFCC, has not stemmed the negative activities of these youths, hence the need for collaboration to redirect the energy of Nigerian youths in the area of digital skills that will reshape their thinking.

According to him, “Blue Apple is seeking to partner with EFCC to harness the youths’ potential and skills and redirect it to useful purposes. The US, Russia, Israel, Germany and North Korea, used to lead in global cybercrime but these countries have been able to manage their situation by converting it to economic gains, through the re-orientation of their youths.

The EFCC chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, who was represented at the NESTEC competition by the Director of ICT at EFCC, Mohammed Bello, extolled the virtues of NESTEC and explained that the world’s focus had shifted to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain Technology and other imaging technologies. He agreed that there was need to do more in re-training Nigerian youths, and applauded the convener of NESTEC for such an initiative, which he said would go a long way to address the nation’s problems.

The second edition of NESTEC, was organised in conjunction with the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), which saw three winners emerged from the nine finalists. Prize monies worth a million naira were shared among winners. Consolation prizes were also given to other finalists.