Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), has recounted how a 17-year-old boy mesmerised him with his
internet fraud skills.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the EFCC chairman
said the boy was able to decipher his banking details, including the bank
verification number (BVN), by just knowing his mobile phone number.
“I brought in a 17-year-old who is studying History and
Anthropology. He is not doing anything science. He sat there in my office in
Lagos and demonstrated something to me on my laptop,” Olukoyede said.
“He asked for my (phone number) number and through it, he
got my BVN. He mentioned the name of my account without me telling him
anything.”
The EFCC chairman said the commission is not interested in
sending internet fraudsters to jail but in rehabilitating them for better
purposes.
“On our own, we plead for a light sentence for them, so we
can reorientate them,” he said.
“What joy will I derive from sending a 17-year-old to jail?
You would have destroyed his future, you would have destroyed his career. Most
times they are given the option of a fine.
“We bring them back, lecture them and talk to them. This
particular boy, when I asked him why he does what he does. He said both of his
parents are farmers and could not go to the farm because of insecurity.
“He is the one feeding his parent. He is the one responsible
for the tuition of his younger ones.
“In as much as I want to do my job, I saw a Bill Gates in
the guy. I told him If he gets out of this, I will personally take
responsibility for his schooling.”
Olukoyede said the anti-graft agency is setting up a
cybercrime research centre where internet fraudsters will be reoriented.
“Now we are coming up
with what we call a cybercrime research centre as a part of the projects in our
new academy where we would bring some of these boys during vacation, the way
they are capturing them, the way we have 419 training schools,” he said.
“We are going to come up with a hub that would help us
channel those skills towards positive things.”
In March, Olukoyede said the agency has plans to
rehabilitate convicted internet fraudsters with lesser sentences.
He told the delegation of the National Association of
University Students (NAUS) that the rehabilitation would be a potent way of
reorienting the minds of the convicts and redirecting their productive energies
to positive endeavours.
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I am really disappointed with such an unguarded comment from the so called boss of EFCC regarding a 17 year old criminal. Comments like this allow Nigeria to be looked down as a country that condones criminality. If I have my way, that boy must face the full force of the law. Is that EFCC boss aware that the comments he made endorses wire fraud and other related crimes.
ReplyDeleteDr Godwin Amarikwa-Obi
UK
I doubt if you read the message with an open mind, what the EFCC boss is saying is not out of place and even the Americans do same, I gues you already have your bias against the EFCC boss hence anything he says you take with negativity
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