WAR AGAINST CYBERCRIME ASSESSING THE ROLE OF NIGERIAN GOVERNMENTS IN THE PROMOTION OF CYBERCRIME AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS, 2000 – 2020

Abstract

Cybercrime among Nigerian youths has rapidly been on the increase in recent times, plunging Nigeria into about #127 billion losses annually among other human and material losses. Arguably, this has been largely attributed to such factors as increasing youth unemployment, population increase, poverty, peer group influence, access to the internet, and mobile and computer technological improvement, among others. The Nigerian governments on their part have also adopted various measures including jobs creation, social intervention programmes, the introduction of Bank Verification Number (BVN), the establishment of the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Nigerian Deposit Monetary Banks (NDMB), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Cybercrime Act, 2015, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), among other measures towards curbing the surge of the menace of cybercrime; yet, the situation seems not abating. This paper, therefore, examines how Nigerian governments have contributed to the promotion of cybercrime among Nigerian youths. The paper adopts a qualitative research method, it utilizes secondary data. The paper employs a historical and analytical approach in the interpretation of its data. Findings reveal that the proliferation of cybercrime among Nigerian youths during the period under investigation is largely consequent upon the failure of the government to timely engage the youths in productive and gainful employment and poor implementation of the enacted anti-cybercrime policies in Nigeria.