By Kassim Omomia
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has called on Nigerian students to take ownership of the fight against corruption and channel their potentials positively for the good of the country.
The EFCC boss also admonished youths to serve as role models by shunning all forms of cybercrimes, urging them to embrace the virtue of hard work and contentment.
He noted that there was no shortcut to wealth and fame.
Bawa gave this admonition at the Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja, Kogi State while speaking as a guest at the official flag-off of the campaign against social vices on campuses organized by the National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS).
The program is designed to sensitize students across campuses in Nigeria on the ills of social vices and dissuade them from engaging in them.
Bawa, who spoke through Abbah Sambo Usman, Head, Cybercrime Section, EFCC Headquarters, Abuja, on “Involvement of Youth in Cybercrime: The New Menace”, decried the rate at which youths get involved in cybercrime and blamed society for the development.
He said, “Everybody wants to live large and big. Our society is fond of glorifying ‘the affluent and the corrupt’. we celebrate them. Nobody is asking the question of how they come about their wealth.
“The moment you are rich you become a celebrity and people want to model their life after you. This is unfortunate. The society must stop this attitude, for our country to move forward.”
The EFCC boss said all hands must be on deck to defeat the menace, urging the students to shun ostentatious and flamboyant lifestyles.
While reiterating the determination of the EFCC not to give up in the fight against corruption and cybercrime he warned that “There are laws that forbade cybercrime. The government has enacted several laws and backed them up with procedures of enforcement. I can assure you that the laws are going to be strictly enforced on all offenders.”
The anti-graft czar commended the initiative of the umbrella body of the Nigerian students and expressed the readiness of the Commission to support any initiative by stakeholders aimed at ridding the country of corruption.
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On the Chairman’s team was the Head, Public Affairs Department, Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC, Ayodele Babatunde, who sensitized the students on the various ways to collaborate with the Commission in the anti-corruption fight.
In his remark, the Rector, Kogi State Polytechnic, Dr. Salisu O. Usman expressed gratitude to the EFCC Chairman for sending a powerful team to attend the event.
