EFCC boss tasks corps members on anti graft war

Members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) have been called upon to see themselves as critical stakeholders in the fight against corruption.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, made the call on Wednesday at the Kwara NYSC Orientation Camp in Yikpata, Edu Local Government Area of the state.

The EFCC chairman was represented by Head, Public Affairs Department, Ilorin Zonal Office of the Commission, Mr Ayodele Babatunde.

Bawa said corruption was the reason the country was still seen merely as a potentially great nation despite its rich natural and human resources endowment.

In his keynote address, ‘EFCC And The Role of The Youths In Curbing Cybercrime’, Bawa urged the youths not to be mere spectators in the anti-graft campaign, but foot soldiers of the war against graft.

He said the youth should become change agents and help mould the minds of the younger ones in schools so that the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes can be far reaching.

“Apart from the fact that the youth are considered as the leaders of tomorrow, most economic crimes, especially cyber-crimes are committed by young people.

”It, therefore, follows that young people must not be mere spectators in the anti-graft campaign.

”Rather, they should actually be the foot soldiers leading the mass rout of corruption and economic crimes out of our land,” Bawa said.

He noted that in the past, young people were idealistic, even puritanical in their reasoning and the positions they took on such issues as corruption.

”But that seems to be changing, as a number of young persons who found themselves in positions of authority have not shown that the youth are themselves immune from corruption.

”Some of them have surpassed the older generation in the manipulation of the system to feather their own nests,” he said.

The chairman also decried the rate at which youths get involved in cybercrime and other forms of corruption.

He said it was painful when EFCC operatives arrested as much as 50 ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ boys in a single raid.

According to Bawa, acts of criminality might deliver wealth in the short term but ultimately, they lead to misery.

“So, I am calling on you to be change agents in your various places of primary assignments by lending support to the fight against corruption.

“Add your voice to mine, because the fight against economic and financial crimes involves you and I; while I play my part, you will play yours,” the EFCC chairman said.

He thanked the leadership of the NYSC for the support the Commission had enjoyed from the corps over the years.