RE-WHEN CRIME BECOMES AN ECONOMY

By Femi Falana, SAN

Senator Babafemi Ojudu has drawn public attention to the exodus of internet fraudsters (otherwise called “yahoo yahoo boys”) from Ekiti State as a result of the fear of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) whose zonal office was recently opened in Ado Ekiti.

He confirmed that the internet fraudsters of Ekiti State extraction have relocated to the neighbouring states with dire consequences for the local economy.

The Ekiti born legislator expressed regret over the collapse of moral values in a community where it was once the wish of every young person to become an accomplished professional to position them to contribute their quota to the development of the society.

Apparently out of concern, he cautioned thus: “unless we restore the dignity of honest work, create genuine opportunities for our young people, and once again make character more admirable than sudden wealth, tomorrow promises not a better society, but a more dangerous one “.

With respect to Senator Ojudu, it is always forgotten by the elite that at the time that education was highly valued in Ekiti State, the people were largely peasant farmers who made enough money to take care of their family members and pay the school fees of their children and wards.

But today, the peasant farmers and even the middle class have been sentenced to eternal poverty as a result of the imposition of the Structural Adjustment Programme by the defunct military junta and the adoption of neoliberal policies by the civilian regimes at the behest of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The point that I am struggling to make is that it is wrong to heap the whole blame of the collapse of moral values on young people whose dreams have been shattered by the zealous implementation of anti people’s policies by the neocolonial state. In other words, young people have been forced to involve themselves in criminal activities by the managers of the peripheral capitalist system.

To compound the crisis of moral decay in Ekiti State, chieftaincy titles are awarded to internet fraudsters, 419 kingpins and other shady characters by some traditional rulers while the members of the ruling class have shamelessly adopted official corruption as the directive principle of state policy.

A couple of months ago, the majority of voters who participated in the Ekiti State gubernatorial election were paid the meager sum of N5,000 or N10,000 before casting their votes.

As usual, the voters have been excoriated for selling their franchise by bourgeois public commentators and the media. In the process of purchasing votes, politicians have made a mockery of the Ekiti State motto of “Ile Iyi, Ile Eye.” But out of sheer hypocrisy, the critics did not deem it fit to identify and recommend the vote buyers for prosecution under the Electoral Act of 2026.

Over 40 years ago, Ekiti people voted for a government that campaigned on the basis of free education, free health care and full employment etc. In the absence of politics of socio-economic development, votes are now sold and bought. In the morally polluted environment, “the dignity of honest work” cannot be restored as poverty has been weaponised by the ruling class. It is pertinent to point out that Ekiti State cannot be divorced from the larger society where the so called economic reforms have continued to pauperise the Nigerian people and turned them.to the margins of the law just to live.

It is common knowledge that many tertiary institutions in Ekiti State produce thousands of graduates every year. Since there is plan by the government to create job opportunities, the majority of them may engage in internet fraud, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes. After all, the devil is said to find work for idle hands.

No doubt, the phenomenon of ‘area boys’ and ‘yahoo yahoo boys” will only become a thing of the past if the State Government and the 16 Local Governments are prepared to create job opportunities by confronting the crises of insecurity, irregular supply of electricity and infrastructural deficit in the State.

In a recent study carried out by the Ekiti Citizen Accountability Network, it was confirmed that the State Government and the 16 Local Governments in Ekiti State received a total sum of N1.8 trillion from the Federation Account from June 1999 to February 2026.

It is indisputable that if the huge funds had been judiciously invested in development projects by successive governments, poverty would have been abolished in the state.

Therefore, it is high time that concerned citizens and interest groups in Ekiti State demanded public accountability from all political office holders.

In particular, the statutory allocations of local governments should henceforth be paid directly to them in line with the celebrated judgment of the Supreme Court on the autonomy of local governments in the country.

Finally, the EFCC should be commended for ensuring that businesses that depend on internet fraud and advanced fee fraud for their sustenance are folding up. I am convinced beyond any shadow of doubt, that the empty hotels, deserted lounges and abandoned supermarkets will bounce back if a substantial part of the monthly statutory allocations of the state and local governments and the internally generated revenue are of Ekiti State are invested in the local economy.