A cyber-security specialist, Mr Chidiebere Ihediwa has advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to devise methods of re-orientating arrested educated online fraudsters (aka Yahoo Boys) to become information technology specialists.
According to him, this strategy is better, rather than allowing them to languish in detention or undergo destructive dissolution.
Ihediwa, also a renowned software developer, made the call on Wednesday during an award ceremony in his honour at the Police Officers Mess, GRA Ikeja, Lagos.
According to Ihediwa, “knowledge can be categorised into two – positive and negative.”
He explained that “even if there were many educated young men among the cyber fraudsters, their inherent knowledge was at variance with the ideal positive knowledge needed for societal development.”
The cybersecurity specialist pointed out that “re-directing the knowledge of the Yahoo boys to meaningful ventures will be of great advantage to the nation.”
In his welcome address, a representative of the award host (Cornerstone.ng) Mr Chris Oji, said Ihediwa rightly deserved the award in view of his outstanding contributions to software development and information technology in Nigeria.
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki also disclosed plans to train repentant internet fraudsters otherwise called ‘yahoo boys’ on advanced Information and Communication Technology as well as other vocational skills in his proposed technology park in the state.
