By Israel Chrislyte
Technology in the past and present years has proven to be a major catalyst for the development of many countries. This same technology too has been proven to have brought about some social vices and moral ills to the society. With technology, the circulation of pornography and other sexual materials has grown in leaps and bounds. With the advent of the internet, a new form of crime has evolved. The term "cybercrime" refers to all crimes committed using computer networks.
Countries like the USA, the UK and other European countries have all been ravaged with different forms of cyber crimes ranging from data theft to hacking of credit cards. Chief among these crimes is the full scale hacking of unsuspecting victims' account. Life savings, pensions and inheritances have been lost to fraudsters via the internet.
Nigeria is not left out as many of her youths are involved in one way or the other in this type of crime. In Nigeria cyber crime is widely known as 'yahoo yahoo'. The trend now is you being seen driving a luxurious car and living large.
When these so called yahoo boys are asked if what they do is right they mostly say at least they are not armed robbers with guns and they don't harm anyone. How true is this?
The Nigerian government recently gave an all-out order to arrest people who are suspected to be yahoo boys. Suspected yahoo boys have been arrested at night clubs around the country. This move by the government saw a lot of criticisms and also praise from quaters who felt differently about it. Speaking with one of the Yahoo boys who pleaded anonymity, he said ' i don't give a damn about what anyone says about what i'm doing, i pay my own bills and provided a job for myself since the government decided not to'.
Another guy who simply identified himself as Larry said, 'i don't want to be called lazy that is why i choose to hustle in my own way'.
Everyone involved in this yahoo thing, in one way or the other, blame the government for making them go into it. They said if the government had provided the basic amenities needed for a smooth running society, they wouln't be anybody involved in crimes such as this.
The big question is- Is the government really the cause of this or peer pressure?.
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