Why We Built Cyber Crime Research Centre – EFCC Chairman

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has built a Cyber Crime Research Centre as part of measures to build capacities against internet fraud.

The chairman of the Commission,  Mr Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this yesterday during a town hall meeting themed, “Uniting the Youths Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity, organised by the Ilorin zonal directorate of the EFCC to mark the 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Olukoyede, who spoke through the zonal director, Harry Erin, said that the anti-graft agency had initiated many measures to educate young people against the need to shun cybercrime.

Saying that there is a compelling need for the youths to close ranks and confront the monster of corruption, the EFCC boss advised youths to see a better future ahead of them by choosing the pathway of integrity.

“As we always say, taking shortcuts always cuts people short. Reject the shortcut of corruption, and your future will be established”, he said.

He said that corruption affects every age group and that it is particularly damaging to the prospects and possibilities of youths.

The keynote speaker at the event, John Baiyeshea (SAN), recommended serious legislation on punishment for people caught stealing Nigeria’s commonwealth.

He urged the country’s legal system to recognise its responsibility to apply appropriate sanctions against corrupt leaders.

Going spiritual, the legal icon asked religious leaders in the country to correctively decree God’s judgement on corrupt leaders.

“I urge pastors and Imams to decree God’s judgement on corrupt people collectively. They should remind God of His words in the scriptures against people stealing our collective inheritance”, he said.

“Corruption is the most significant industry in Nigeria, and it has led to economic collapse. That is why there is poverty and hunger in a land that God has blessed us to flourish.

“We export corruption because the money that our people steal in billions of dollars resides in those countries, and it is cheap money in their systems. Something is fundamentally wrong with our system.

“Those corrupt people are more potent than our legal system. They are stronger than our law enforcement agencies.

“I recommend the death sentence as punishment against treasury looters. In Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and North Korea, punishing treasury looters is a death sentence. We should not be afraid to sentence to death those stealing our money.

“The wealth of the country of over 200 million people is in the hands of about 2,000 people, according to a study. This is the only country where we hero-worship corrupt people.

“If the forefathers of the Americas, Europe had stolen the countries’ money, where would our children be running to now?” he asked rhetorically.