The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Tuesday, revealed that Nigeria loses more than $500 million to cybercriminals in one year alone.
EFCC also pointed at the reasons many public servants resort to corrupt practices, saying workers’ earnings cannot adequately meet their basic needs.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede disclosed this when the Managing-Director of the Consumer Credit Corporation, Uzoma Nwagba, paid him a visit at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The EFCC boss blamed the rising wave of cybercrime among young Nigerians on poverty and limited educational opportunities, saying such development necessitated the establishment of the NELFund.
According to him, “In 2022 alone, we lost over $500 million to the activities of cyber criminals, most of whom are young people, who are supposed to be in school. We are not just interested in sending them to jail.
“When we interrogate some of them, they tell us, we want to go to school. We want to graduate with a certificate, but we cannot afford it. That was how the idea of NELFund came, and we said that we needed to support the Fund.”
Also speaking on why public servants have a propensity for corrupt practices, Olukoyede listed housing, transportation, education and feeding for the family as some of the basic needs they can no longer meet up with.
He explained that if workers could access affordable mortgages and consumer loans repayable over a long period, the pressure to acquire wealth through illicit means would be greatly reduced.
