Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria

Abstract

Advances in global telecommunication infrastructure, including computers, mobile phones, and the Internet, have brought about major transformation in world communication. In Nigeria, the young and the old now have access to the world from their homes, offices, cyber cafes and so on. Lately, internet or web-enabled phones and other devices like iPods, and Blackberry, have made internet access easier and faster. However, one of the fall outs of this unlimited access is the issue of cybercrime. Consequently, cybercrime, known as " Yahoo Yahoo " or " Yahoo Plus " , is a source of major concern to the country. Nigeria's rising cybercrime profile may not come as a surprise, considering the high level of poverty and high unemployment rate in the country. What is surprising, however, is the fact that Nigerians are wallowing in poverty despite the huge human and material resources available in the country. With the aid of the human security approach, this paper aims to (i) establish a nexus between poverty and cybercrime in Nigeria; (ii) examine the efforts of the Nigerian government in forestalling cybercrime; and (iii) suggest measures that could be put in place to help in curbing cybercrime as well as bringing about poverty alleviation. The paper suggests that the government must put viable policies and programmes on poverty reduction and eradication in place. However, these policies and programmes need to be judiciously backed by actions.

Full text

19
ISSN 1712-8056[Print]
ISSN 1923-6697[Online]
www.cscanada.net
www.cscanada.org
Canadian Social Science
Vol. 13, No. 4, 2017, pp. 19-29
DOI:10.3968/9394
Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
Olubukola Stella Adesina[a],*
[a]Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author.
Received 18 January 2017; accepted 9 March 2017
Published online 26 April 2017
Abstract
Advances in global telecommunication infrastructure,
including computers, mobile phones, and the Internet,
have brought about major transformation in world
communication. In Nigeria, the young and the old now
have access to the world from their homes, offices, cyber
cafes and so on. Lately, internet or web-enabled phones
and other devices like iPods, and Blackberry, have made
internet access easier and faster. However, one of the fall
outs of this unlimited access is the issue of cybercrime.
Consequently, cybercrime, known as “Yahoo Yahoo” or
“Yahoo Plus”, is a source of major concern to the country.
Nigeria’s rising cybercrime profile may not come as a
surprise, considering the high level of poverty and high
unemployment rate in the country. What is surprising,
however, is the fact that Nigerians are wallowing in poverty
despite the huge human and material resources available in
the country. With the aid of the human security approach,
this paper aims to (i) establish a nexus between poverty
and cybercrime in Nigeria; (ii) examine the efforts of
the Nigerian government in forestalling cybercrime; and
(iii) suggest measures that could be put in place to help
in curbing cybercrime as well as bringing about poverty
alleviation. The paper suggests that the government must
put viable policies and programmes on poverty reduction
and eradication in place. However, these policies and
programmes need to be judiciously backed by actions.
Key words: Cybercrime; Poverty; Nigeria
Adesina, O. S. (2017). Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria.
Canadian Social Science
, 13
(4), 19-29. Available from:
http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/view/9394
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9394
INTRODUCTION
The advent of computers and the internet has opened a
vast array of possibilities for the young and the old in
the international community to have access to the world
from their homes, offices, cyber cafes and so on. In recent
times, internet or web-enabled phones and other devices
like iPods, and Blackberry, have made internet access
easier and faster. Not so long ago, computers were large,
cumbersome devices utilised primarily by government,
research and financial institutions. The ability to commit
computer crimes was largely limited to those with access
and expertise. Today, the technology is ubiquitous and
increasingly easy to use, ensuring its availability to both
offenders and victims (Clough, 2010).
The proliferation of digital technology, and the
convergence of computing and communication devices,
has transformed the way in which we socialise and do
business. While overwhelmingly positive, there has also
been a dark side to these developments. Proving the
maxim that crime follows opportunity, virtually every
advance has been accompanied by a corresponding niche
to be exploited for criminal purposes (Clough, 2010).
Thus, one major consequence of this unlimited access to
the world has been an increase in the spate of cybercrimes.
Numerous crimes of varying dimensions are committed
daily on the Internet worldwide. Majid (2006, pp.3-4)
expressed it thus:
Businesses cite threats to economic performance and stability,
ranging from vandalism to “e-fraud” and “piracy”; governments
talk of “cyberwarfare” and “cyberterror”, especially in the wake
of the September 11 attacks; parents fear for their children’s
online safety, as they are told of perverts and paedophiles
stalking the Internet’s “chat rooms” looking for victims;
hardly a computer user exists who has not been subjected to
attack by “viruses” and other forms of malicious software; the
defenders of democratic rights and freedoms see a threat from
the state itself, convinced that the Internet furnishes a tool for
surveillance and control of citizens, an electronic web with
which “Big Brother” can watch us all. The development of the

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
20
Internet and related communication technologies thus appears to
present an array of new challenges to individual and collective
safety, social order and stability, economic prosperity and
political liberty.
In international relations, cybercrime occupy an
important and increasingly strategic role and has reflected
in the formation of major international bodies and
various treaties and bilateral, regional and international
agreements among nations of the world (Kshetri, 2013).
The most significant international instrument in the field
is the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime
(2001). As of September 2016, 52 countries had ratified,
accessed or signed it. It has been followed by many from
developing regions including the Commonwealth Model
Law on Computer and Computer-related Crime (2002)
and the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and
Personal Data Protection, adopted in June 2014. There are
also initiatives at the European level.
Similarly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO), which has Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its
members, has taken significant steps towards cybersecurity
cooperation. To institutionalize cybersecurity relations,
many countries have also signed bilateral and multilateral
treaties and agreements. For instance, in August
2012, Malaysia and China signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) to combat trans-border crimes,
which will focus on human trafficking, drug smuggling,
terrorism and cybercrime. The two countries have
realized the importance of regional and international
cooperation as they involve syndicates with regional
and global networks (Kshetri, 2013). Furthermore, laws
are rapidly being enacted to control cybercrime. As of
November 2014, 117 countries (of which 82 developing
and transition economies) had enacted such legislation,
and another 26 countries had drafted legislation underway
(UNCTAD, 2015).
According to a 2011 World Bank survey, out of
the top ten countries in the world with a high level of
cybercrime prevalence, Africa is host to four of these
countries (Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa).
According to another study, the top five hotspots for
cybercrime are, first, the Russian Federation, followed by
China, Brazil, Nigeria and Viet Nam (Time, 2014). Also,
the 2010 Internet Crime Complaint Center Report ranked
Nigeria third in the hierarchy of nations with the highest
prevalence of cybercrime (IC3 Report, 2010). Hence,
Nigeria is considered one of the major hubs of cybercrime
in the world.
Ironically, despite her huge resources and potentials,
Nigeria is considered one of the poorest countries in the
world. Using the human security approach, this paper
examines the menace of cybercrime in Nigeria, and the
nexus between cybercrime and poverty in the country. It
argues that the alarming increase in poverty level in the
country accounts largely for the increase in cybercrime.
This has serious consequence for human security in the
country. Many unemployed graduates in the country are
involved in cybercrime, most often out of desperation
in the bid to survive or to rescue their families out of
the grip of poverty. The poverty situation in Nigeria is a
paradox since the country is endowed with a lot of natural,
material and human resources which can be harnessed,
and developed to generate employment and reduce, if
not eliminate poverty in the country. The paper suggests
measures that could be put in place to help in curbing the
menace of cybercrime as well as bringing about poverty
alleviation.
1. DEFINING CYBERCRIME
A major problem for the study of cybercrime is the
absence of a consistent current definition, even among
those law enforcement agencies charged with tackling it.
According to the Council of Europe (COE) Convention
on Cybercrime, cyber-crime involves “action directed
against the confidentiality, integrity and availability
of computer systems, networks and computer data as
well as the misuse of such systems, networks and data”
(Council of Europe, 2001). To the Federal Bureau
of Investigations (FBI), cybercrimes spans across a
diverse scenario including; crimes against children
(usually involving child pornography or child rape);
theft of intellectual properties and/or publications,
phishing, intentional dissemination of malware to
national and international internet fraud. Casey considers
internet crimes and frauds to be any crime that involves
computers and networks, including crimes that do not
rely heavily on computers (Casey, 2004). And Thomas
and Loader (2000, p.3) conceptualize cybercrime as
those “computer-mediated activities which are either
illegal or considered illicit by certain parties and which
can be conducted through global electronic networks”.
Thus, in general terms, cybercrime can be defined as
crimes committed on the internet using the computer as
either a tool or a targeted victim. It encompasses all illegal
activities perpetrated by one or more people referred to
as scammers, hackers, internet fraudsters, cyber citizens
or 419ners, using the internet through the medium of
networked computers, telephones and other information
and communications technology (ICT) equipment.
Cybercrimes target laptops, tablets, mobile phones and
entire networks. Mobile merchants are reported to be
incurring the greatest fraud losses as a percentage of
revenue amongst all merchant segments (LexisNexis,
2013).
It is very difficult to classify cybercrimes in general
into distinct groups. Cybercrime can take many shapes
and can occur anytime or at anyplace. Cyber criminals
utilize several methods, depending on their skill-set and
their goal. Regardless of the nature of the intentions, each

21 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Olubukola Stella Adesina (2017).
Canadian Social Science, 13
(4), 19-29
method of cybercrime requires a set of skills, knowledge,
resources, and access to particular data or information
systems. One classification that is helpful to this study is
that by Wall (2001, pp.3-7). He sub-divides cybercrime
into four established legal categories:
a) Cyber-trespass—crossing boundaries into other
people’s property and/or causing damage, e.g. hacking,
defacement, viruses.
b) Cyber-deceptions and thefts—stealing (money,
property), e.g. credit card fraud, intellectual property
violations also referred to as piracy.
c) Cyber-pornography— breaching laws on obscenity
and decency.
d) Cyber-violence—doing psychological harm to, or
inciting physical harm against others, thereby breaching
laws relating to the protection of the person, e.g. hate
speech, stalking.
It sub-divides cybercrime according to the object or
target of the offence: the first two categories comprise
“crimes against property”, the third covers “crimes against
morality”, and the fourth relates to “crimes against the
person”. To these we may also wish to add “crimes against
the state”, those activities that breach laws protecting
the integrity of the nation and its infrastructure (e.g.
terrorism, espionage and disclosure of official secrets).
Such a classification is helpful, as it allows us to relate
cybercrime to exist conceptions of prohibited and harmful
acts (Majid, 2006).
2. THE COST OF CYBERCRIME
McAfee Inc. (2014) notes that cybercrime is a growth
industry. The returns are great, and the risks are low.
They estimated that the likely annual cost to the global
economy from cybercrime is more than $400 billion. A
conservative estimate would be $375 billion in losses,
while the maximum could be as much as $575 billion.
Even the smallest of these figures is more than the
national income of most countries and governments and
companies underestimate how much risk they face from
cybercrime and how quickly this risk can grow. The cost
of cybercrime includes the effect of hundreds of millions
of people having their personal information stolen—
incidents in the last year include more than 40 million
people in the US, 54 million in Turkey, 20 million in
Korea, 16 million in Germany, and more than 20 million
in China.
The most important cost of cybercrime, however,
comes from its damage to company performance and to
national economies (McAfee Inc., 2014). Cybercrime
damages trade, competitiveness, innovation, and global
economic growth. What cybercrime means for the world
is that:
●Thecostofcybercrimewillcontinuetoincreaseas
more business functions move online and as more
companies and consumers around the world connect
to the Internet.
●Lossesfromthe theft of intellectual property will
also increase as acquiring countries improve their
ability to make use of it to manufacture competing
goods.
●Cybercrimeisataxoninnovationandslowsthe
pace of global innovation by reducing the rate of
return to innovators and investors.
●Governmentsneedtobeginserious,systematic
effort to collect and publish data on cybercrime to
help countries and companies make better choices
about risk and policy (McAfee Inc., 2014)
3. CYBERCRIME AND HUMAN
SECURITY
There is a nexus between human security and cybercrime
and between human security and poverty. Human security
is commonly understood as prioritising the security of
people, especially their welfare and safety, rather than
thatofstates(Ağır,2015,p.366).Itidentifiesthesecurity
of human lives as the central objective of national and
international security policy. It contrasts with, and
grew out of increasing dissatisfaction with, the state-
centered concept of security as an adequate conceptual
framework for understanding human vulnerabilities in
the contemporary world and military interventions as
adequate responses to them (Fukuda-Parr and Messineo,
2012). It is defined as freedom for individuals from basic
insecurities caused by gross human rights violations and
includes both freedom from fear, through the protection
of individuals and communities from direct violence, and
freedom from want, through the promotion of unhindered
access to the economy, health and education (UNDP,
1994).
The Commission on Human Security, in its final report
Human Security Now, defines human security as:
… to protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that
enhance human freedoms and human fulfilment. Human security
means protecting fundamental freedoms – freedoms that are the
essence of life. It means protecting people from critical (severe)
and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations. It means
using processes that build on people’s strengths and aspirations.
It means creating political, social, environmental, economic,
military and cultural systems that together give people the
building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity. (CHS, 2003,
p.4)
Thus, human security, goes beyond military threats; it
is primarily focused on the standards of everyday living,
human dignity and safety from diachronic threats such
as lack of food and medicine, poverty and restrains.
Essentially, those who suffer from “want” are exposed to
diverse types of threats. Consequently, the vulnerability of
the populations affected by bad governance, poverty, lack
of the basic human needs and principle rights for a decent

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
22
life and dignity, guide them to an inevitable effort for
amelioration by any means (Chapsos, 2011).
4. POVERTY SITUATION IN NIGERIA
One major factor adduced for the rise in various crimes
in Nigeria, most especially cybercrime is poverty. In
examining the relation between cybercrime and poverty,
it is important not only to define what is meant by
cybercrime, but what is meant by poverty, as well. Poverty
can be defined in many ways. While some scholars
reduce it to numbers, others argue that a more ambiguous
definition must be used. While some define it in relations
to income, many treat poverty as multidimensional,
using indicators such as (i) low income, (ii) low levels
of education and health, (iii) vulnerability (to health
or income loss, natural disaster, crime and violence,
and education curtailment) and (iv) voicelessness and
powerlessness (feeling discrimination, lacking income
earning possibilities, mistreatment by state institutions,
and lacking status under the law).
McConnell and Brue (2005) define poverty as a
condition in which a person or a family does not have the
means to satisfy basic needs for food, clothing, shelter
and transportation. The means include, currently earned
income, transfer payments, past savings and property
owned. The basic needs have many determinants,
including family size and the health and age of its
members. Fields (1994) also defines poverty as the
inability of an individual or a family to command
sufficient resources to satisfy the basic needs such as food,
clothing, shelter, healthcare and other necessities of life.
In 1998, a United Nations (1998) Statement on poverty,
signed by the heads of all UN agencies stated:
Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities,
a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to
participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to
feed and cloths a family, not having a school or clinic to go to,
not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn
one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity,
powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and
communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often
implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without
access to clean water or sanitation.
Also, according to the World Bank (2003), the major
indicators of poverty are: lack of freedom of action and
choice; lack of adequate food, shelter, education and
health; vulnerabilities to ill health; economic dislocation;
maltreatment by public agencies; and exclusion from
key decision-making processes and resources in society.
Accordingly, poverty depicts a situation in which a given
material means of sustenance within a given society is
hardly enough for subsistence in that society (Townsend,
1962). Thus, people are considered to be poor if their
standard of living falls below the poverty line, that is,
the amount of income (or consumption) associated
with a minimum acceptable level of nutrition and other
necessities of everyday life (World Bank, 1992). In
essence, when people are unable to eat, go to school,
unable to find employment, or have access to health care,
then they can be considered to be in poverty, regardless of
their income.
Ajakaiye and Adeyeye (2002) note that poverty can
be structural (chronic) or transient. Structural poverty
is defined as persistent or permanent socio-economic
deprivations and is linked to a host of factors such as
limited productive resources, lack of skills for gainful
employment, endemic socio-political and cultural factors
and gender. Transient poverty, on the other hand, is
defined as transitory/temporary and is linked to natural
and man-made disasters. Transient poverty is more
reversible but can become structural if it persists.
The issue of poverty in Nigeria is a paradox. While
Nigeria is a leading oil-producing nation and highly
endowed in terms of various natural resources, most of her
people are economically poor. As a national data shows,
over one-third of Nigerians (35%) live in extreme poverty
while 54% are relatively poor. For instance, the Nigeria
Poverty Profile 2010 Report of the National Bureau of
Statistics provides an insight into the level of poverty in
the country. More than half of the Nigerian population
lives on less than a dollar a day. The major findings from
the survey are as follows:
(a) Relative Poverty is defined by reference to the
living standards of majority in a given society. In 2004,
Nigeria’s relative poverty measurement stood at 54.4%,
but increased to 69% (or 112,518,507 Nigerians) in 2010.
The North-West and North-East geo-political zones
recorded the highest poverty rates in the country with
77.7% and 76.3% respectively in 2010, while the South-
West geo-political zone recorded the lowest at 59.1%.
Among States, Sokoto had the highest poverty rate at
86.4% while Niger had the lowest at 43.6% in the year
under review.
(b) Absolute Poverty is defined in terms of the minimal
requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of
food, clothing, healthcare and shelter. Using this measure,
54.7% of Nigerians were living in poverty in 2004 but
this increased to 60.9% (or 99,284,512 Nigerians) in
2010. Among the geo-political zones, the North-West and
North-East recorded the highest rates at 70% and 69%
respectively, while the South-West had the least at 49.8%.
At the State level, Sokoto had the highest at 81.2% while
Niger had the least at 33.8% during the review period.
(c) The-Dollar-Per-Day Measure refers to the
proportion of those living on less than US$1 per day
poverty line. Applying this approach, 51.6% of Nigerians
were living below US$1 per day in 2004, but this
increased to 61.2% in 2010. Although the World Bank
standard is now US$1.25, the old reference of US$1
was the standard used in Nigeria at the time that the

23 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Olubukola Stella Adesina (2017).
Canadian Social Science, 13
(4), 19-29
survey was conducted. The North-West geo-political
zone recorded the highest percentage at 70.4%, while the
South-West geo-political zone had the least at 50.1%.
Sokoto had the highest rate among States at 81.9%, while
Niger had the least at 33.9%.
(d) Subjective Poverty is based on self-assessment and
“sentiments” from respondents. In this regard, 75.5% of
Nigerians considered themselves to be poor in 2004, and
in 2010 the number went up to 93.9%. FCT recorded the
most number of people who considered themselves to
be poor at 97.9%. Kaduna recorded the least number of
people who considered themselves poor at 90.5%.
A major indicator of poverty in Nigeria is
unemployment. In broad terms, the term unemployment
denotes a condition of joblessness or lack of employment.
In other words, anyone who is fit and available to
work but fails to get one may be considered as being
unemployed for the concerned period. Statistics reveal
that the unemployment rate is very high among youth
in Nigeria, most of who are university graduates with
computer and internet competence. According to statistics
from the 2011 National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s
overall unemployment rate amounted to 23.9 % of total
Labour Force in March 2011, indicating a sharp increase
from14.9% in March 2008 to 19.7% in March 2009 and
23.9% in 2011 (see Table 1). When disaggregated by
sector, 17.1% of these are in the Urban areas, while 25.6%
are from Rural areas. The surveys also reveal that persons
aged 0-14 years constituted 39.6%, those aged between
15-64, which is the economically active population,
constituted 56.3%, while those aged 65 years and above
constituted 4.2%. According to the NBS, the Labour
Force in 2011 stood at 67,256,090, of that 51,181,884 are
employed while the unemployed are 16,074,205.
Table 1
Overview of Employment Situation in Nigeria (2006-2011)
Nigeria population
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
140,431,790 144,925,607 149,563,227 154,349,250 159,288,426 164,385,656
Ecnomically active 78,922,666 81,448,191 84,054,533 86,744,278 89,520,095 92,384,738
Labour fore 57,455,701 59,294,283 61,191,700 63,149,835 65,170,629 67,256,090
Employed 50,388,650 51,763,909 52,074,137 50,709,317 51,224,115 51,181,884
Unemployed 7,067,051 7,530,374 9,117,563 12,440,517 13,946,515 16,074,205
Newly unemployed 463,323 1,587,189 3,322,954 1,505,997 2,127,691
Source: National Bureau of Statistics (2011).
From the table above, one can see the magnitude of
unemployment in Nigeria. These unemployed youths
have time on their hands and have easy access to the
internet to perpetuate cybercrimes. Even if they do not
have access to Internet at home, cyber-cafés are readily
available throughout the country at relatively low rates for
Internet access. All these factors combine to create a new
generation of local hackers and cyber-criminals (Olowu,
2009). Although, they may not have deep programming
knowledge like experienced hackers who can create their
own malware or viruses, they take advantage of many
websites available for free that help them understand
the basics behind hacking techniques with links to
underground hacking sites and even free tools to use.
5. CYBERCRIME IN NIGERIA: YAHOO
YAHOO AND YAHOO PLUS
Cybercrime is a very popular crime in Nigeria.
Cybercriminals in Nigeria are notorious for luring people
across the planet into fraudulent scams via spam mails,
cash-laundering e-mails, and cleverly designed but
pretend company partnership offers. Criminals involved
in the advance fee fraud schemes (419) known as “yahoo
yahoo” are popularly referred to as “yahoo boys” in
Nigeria. Yahoo yahoo is the most popular local name
for cybercrime in Nigeria. It usually involves the use of
email, particularly through a Yahoo address or yahoo
messenger to con unsuspecting victims. The nation has
therefore carved a niche for herself as the source of what
is now generally referred to as “419” mails named after
Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code (Capp 777 of
1990) that prohibits advance fee fraud.
The “yahoo boys” use various methods in getting
their victims. Many of these fraudsters patronize cyber
cafes, browsing the internet all night, sending scam mails
to unsuspecting victims. Many foreigners, especially
females, who are seeking for spouses via the Internet have
fallen victim of the “yahoo boys”. They pretend to be
ready to go into a lasting relationship with these women
and subsequently start to exploit them. Some of them get
their victims to help in procuring travel documents to
where they reside or even to assist in getting residential
permits for them. Once they have been able to achieve
their aims, they stop communicating with the victim and
move on to another target (Adesina, 2012).
In other instances, the scammers use stories of severe
life circumstances, tragedies, family deaths, personal
injuries or other hardships to keep their victims concerned
and involved in their schemes. They also ask victims to
send money to help overcome alleged financial hardships.

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
24
Many of the victims just lick their wounds and carry
on life, but some of the very bitter victims report to the
appropriate authorities who often apprehend and prosecute
the suspects. The situation is worsened by the fact that
several non-Nigerians apprehended for cybercrimes most
often claim to be Nigerians before they are thoroughly
investigated and their country of origin established.
Demonstrating the gravity of the problem of
cybercrime in the country, in 2007, a young Nigerian
musician, Olumide Adegbolu (also known as Olu
Maintain) released a hit song called “Yahooze”. The song,
which sparked a lot of controversies, speaks of a flashy
lifestyle, fancy trips and expensive drinks, if the songster
is able to “hammer” (obtain) 1 million dollars and coverts
it into Naira (Nigerian currency). Critics argued that
the song was a glorification of internet fraud or “Yahoo
Yahoo”, pointing out that for a young man to think of
living such a life style if he gets such a huge amount of
money, he must be a scammer. This has been vehemently
denied by Olu Maintain himself claiming that the song
was just a reflection of his rise to fame and the change
money has made to his life.
The song and the whole controversy that trailed it
reflects the current trend of thinking of many Nigerian
youth. The quest to possess and ride flashy cars and live
frivolous lifestyles have lured many Nigerian youth into
the “yahoo yahoo” business. It is not unusual to enter
a cybercafé and find that most of the people there are
(mainly) boys in their 20’s or early 30’s who are browsing
the internet in search of potential victims. There is even
what is called “night browsing” where, for a fee, they
stay on the internet all through the night to carry out
their businesses. The boys often team up to practice their
businesses in other to be able to get ideas from each other.
Also, as seen in Figure 1 below, many of them also have
laptops that they use to perpetrate this crime.
Figure 1
A Typical Yahoo Yahoo Operation
Source: Nkereuwem, 2010.
However, in recent times, because of some stringent
measures put in place by many financial institutions and
various organizations that do online transactions, the
cybercriminals in Nigeria apparently suffered a setback
in their activities. To this end, the more desperate among
them has had to resort to spiritual means to enhance their
businesses. This is referred to as “Yahoo Plus”. Yahoo plus
is an advanced form of yahoo yahoo whereby the “yahoo
boys” employs traditional spiritual means like voodoo or
juju to hypnotize their victims into doing their bidding
and parting with whatever amount of money they request
for. The yahoo boys indulge in occultic ritual practices
to enhance their potential to defraud people. It involves
employing traditional spiritual means like voodoo or juju
in ensuring that the cybercriminal hypnotizes his victims
and thereby brighten the swindler’s chances of getting
his victims hypnotised. Once this is successfully done,
the victim is guaranteed to keep remitting money from
wherever he or she is in the world. There are various
strategies deployed in achieving this feat. The yahoo boy
approaches a spiritualist or diviner who consults, the
“oracle” or the “gods”. He is then given diverse options
of rituals to perform. These include sleeping in a coffin
for certain numbers of days, sleeping in the cemetery,
bringing body parts. In other words, he kidnaps a victim,
kills him/her and extracts the body part needed. Some are
even told to sleep with virgins as part of the rituals. Most
often, young girls are kidnapped and raped and sometimes
killed by these ambitious people.
Other forms of rituals performed include sleeping
with pregnant women or mad women and sometimes, the
yahoo boy may be told not to take his bath for days or
months as doing so may have terrible repercussions.
Another popular “yahoo” crime in Nigeria is phishing.
Phishing is an attack that typically involves sending an
email to a victim that looks to the unsuspecting recipient
as if it comes from a legitimate source, for instance, a
bank. For phishes, an email is sent asking the victim to
verify personal information through a link to a fraudulent
web page. Once that is provided, the hacker can access
the victim’s financial information. According to Richards
(2016), the year 2015 recorded high number of phishing
emails from suspected cyber criminals in Nigeria, peaking
when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced
deadline for Bank Verification Number (BVN). Cyber
criminals swamped unwary bank customers with phish
emails to warn them that their accounts were about to be
blocked and consequently steal their credentials once they
supply their details.
6. IMPACT OF CYBERCRIME ON NIGERIA
The proliferation of cybercrime has negative impact
on Nigeria. According to the National Security Adviser
(NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Munguno (rtd), the
2014 Annual report of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance
Corporation (NDIC), shows that, between year 2013
and 2014, fraud on e-payment platform of the Nigerian
banking sector increased by 183%. Also, a report

25 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Olubukola Stella Adesina (2017).
Canadian Social Science, 13
(4), 19-29
published in 2014 by the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, UK, estimated the annual cost
of cybercrime to Nigeria at about 0.08% of our GDP,
representing about N127 billion (Iroegbu, 2016).
Apart from economic loss, cybercrime has brought
disrepute to Nigeria from all over the world. For instance,
in India, it was claimed that about 90% of foreign
nationals arrested for cybercrimes in Hyderabad city
since September 2015 were Nigerians. According to the
source, of 67 foreigners arrested for online fraud, 60 were
from Nigeria, five from Cameroon, and the other two
were South African nationals. There are three basic types
of online frauds through which Nigerians perpetrate the
crime—lottery, jobs, and matrimonial scams (Lasania,
2016).
Fundamentally, Nigerians are treated with suspicion in
business dealings. As pointed out by Ribadu (2007),
cybercrime is depressing trade and investor confidence in our
economy and to that extent it is a present and clear danger to our
national security and the prosperity of our citizens. Indee d , of
all the grand corruption perpetrated daily in our communities,
most are of the nature of cybercrime executed through the
agencies of computer and internet fraud, mail scam, credit card
fraud, bankruptcy fraud, insurance fraud, government fraud, tax
evasion, financial fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, bribery,
kickbacks, counterfeiting, laundering, embezzlement, as well as
economic and copyright/trade secret theft.
The situation is such that international financial
institutions now view paper-based Nigerian financial
instruments with scepticism. Nigerian bank drafts and
checks are not viable international financial instruments.
Nigerian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email
providers are already being black-listed in e-mail
blocking blacklist systems across the Internet. Also, some
companies are blocking entire Internet network segments
and traffic that originate from Nigeria. Newer and more
sophisticated technologies are emerging that will make it
easier to discriminate and isolate Nigerian e-mail traffic
(Chawki, 2009).
7. LEGISLATION ON CYBERCRIME IN
NIGERIA
Having good legislation in place is one of the major steps
in curbing cybercrime. In 2004, the Nigerian government
established the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group
comprising representatives from government and the
private sector to develop legislation on cybercrime.
Furthermore, in 2007, the government established the
Directorate for Cyber Security (DfC), which is an agency
responsible for responding to security issues associated
with growing usage of internet and other information and
communication technologies (ICTs) in the country. It was
provided with a funding of N1.2 billion (approximately
USD9.8 million using 2007 exchange rates) to carry out
its mission.
Apart from these initiatives, there are general laws that
are not specifically related to cybercrime but are being
enforced to deal with the crime. Some of these laws,
which are examined below, are: the Nigeria criminal code
(1990), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) (Establishment) Act 2004, and the Advance Fee
Fraud and other Related Offences Act 2006.
7.1 The Nigeria Criminal Code Act 1990
The Criminal Code Act of 1990 (Laws of the Federation
of Nigeria, 1990) criminalizes any type of stealing of
funds in whatever form, an offence punishable under the
Act. Even though cybercrime is not mentioned in the Act,
it is a type of stealing punishable under the criminal code.
Chapter 38 of the Act deals with “obtaining Property
by false pretences—Cheating.” The specific provisions
relating to cybercrime is section 419, while section 418
gave a definition of what constitutes an offence under the
Act. Section 418 states that:
Any representation made by words, writing, or conduct, of a
matter of fact, either past or present, which representation is
false in fact, and which the person making it knows to be false
or does not believe to be true, is a false pretence.
While section 419 states:
Any person who by any false pretence, and with intent to
defraud, obtains from any other person anything capable of
being stolen, or induces any other person to deliver to any
person anything capable of being stolen, is guilty of a felony,
and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
7.2 The Economic and Financial Crime
Commission Act, 2004
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission Act
(Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, as amended)
provides the legal framework for the establishment of the
Commission. This Act repeals the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) (Establishment) Act 2002.
Some of the major responsibilities of the Commission,
according to part 2 of the Act, include:
•The investigation ofallfinancialcrimes,including
advance fee fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting,
illegal charge transfers, futures market fraud, fraudulent
encashment of negotiable instruments, computer credit
card fraud, contract scam, etc.;
•Thecoordinationandenforcementofalllawsagainst
economic and financial crimes laws and enforcement
functions conferred on any other person or authority;
•The examination and investigationof al1 reported
cases of economic and financial crimes with a view
to identifying individuals, corporate bodies, or groups
involved;
•Undertaking research andsimilarworkswithaview
to determining the manifestation, extent, magnitude, and
effects of economic and financial crimes and advising
government on appropriate intervention measures for
combating same;

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
26
•Takingcharge of, supervising, controlling,
coordinating all the responsibilities, functions, and
activities relating to the current investigation and
prosecution of all offences connected with or relating to
economic and financial crimes, in consultation with the
Attorney- General of the Federation;
•The coordination of all investigatingunitsfor
existing economic and financial crimes, in Nigeria;
•The Commission is further charged with the
responsibility of enforcing the provisions of the Money
Laundering Act 1995; the Advance Fee Fraud and Other
Fraud-Related Offences Act 1995 ; the Failed Banks
(Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks
Act 1994, as amended; the Banks and other Financial
Institutions Act 1991, as amended; and Miscellaneous
Offences Act (EFCC, 2004) .
7.3 Advance Fee Fraud and Related Oences Act
2006
According to Section 23 of the advance fee fraud Act
(Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006):
False pretence means a representation, whether deliberate or
reckless, made by word, in writing or by conduct, of a matter of
fact or law, either past or present, which representation is false
in fact or law, and which the person making it knows to be false
or does not believe to be true.
Section 383 sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Criminal Code
states: “A person who fraudulently takes anything capable
of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to his own use
or to the use of any other person anything capable of
being stolen, is said to steal that thing”. Advance Fee
Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 deals
with internet crime issues, however, it only covers the
regulation of internet service providers and cybercafés, it
does not deal with the broad spectrum of computer misuse
and cybercrimes.
7.4 The Cybercrimes Act of 2015
All the above legislation has proven ineffective in curbing
cybercrime as it is on the increase. In a bid to put in place
stronger legal framework to curb cybercrime, a revision of
the existing cybercrime legislation was put forward by the
Government in September 2008. The bill titled “A Bill for
an Act to Provide for the Prohibition of Electronic Fraud
in all Electronic Transactions in Nigeria and for other
Related Matters,” passed second reading in November
2012 at the Senate. In May 2015, the cybercrime bill was
signed into law, properly defining the act as unlawful with
penalties attached to any disobedience of the law. The
Act, known as the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention
etc.) Act 2015 creates a legal, regulatory and institutional
framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection,
investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes and for
other related matters. Particularly, the Act engenders
a platform for cyber security and in turn, ensures the
protection of computer systems and networks, electronic
communications, data and computer programs, intellectual
property, privacy rights as well as preservation and
protection of the critical national information.
The Cybercrimes Act 2015 is, thus, the first legislation
in Nigeria that deals specifically with cybercrimes and
cyber security. The Act, which was signed into law on
May 15, 2015 stipulates that, any crime or injury on
critical national information infrastructure, sales of pre-
registered SIM cards, unlawful access to computer
systems, Cyber-Terrorism, among others, would be
punishable under the new law. The Act prescribes stringent
penalties for offenders and perpetrators of cybercrime. The
Cybercrimes Act is made up of 59 Sections, 8 Parts; and
2 Schedules. 1st Schedule lists the Cybercrime Advisory
Council; 2nd Schedule lists businesses to be levied for the
purpose of the Cybersecurity Fund under S.44(2)(a): GSM
service providers and all telecom companies; Internet
service providers; banks and other financial institutions;
Insurance companies; and Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Some of the provisions of the Act include:
•Itgivesthepresidentthepowertodesignate
certain computer systems, networks and information
infrastructure vital to the national security of Nigeria
or the economic and social well-being of its citizens, as
constituting Critical National Information Infrastructure,
and to implement procedures, guidelines, and conduct
audits in furtherance of that. Examples of systems,
which could be designated as such, include transport,
communication, banking etc.
•Itprescribesthedeathpenalty for an offence
committed against a system or network that has been
designated critical national infrastructure of Nigeria
that result in the death of an individual (amongst other
punishments for lesser crimes).
•Hackers,iffoundguilty,ofunlawfullyaccessing
a computer system or network, are liable to a fine
of up to N10 million or a term of imprisonment of 5
years (depending on the purpose of the hack). The same
punishment is also meted out to Internet fraudsters who
perpetuate their acts either by sending electronic
messages, or accessing and using data stored on computer
systems.
•Itmakesprovisionforidentitytheft, with the
punishment of imprisonment for a term of not less than 3
years or a fine of not less than N7 million or to both fine
and imprisonment.
•Itspecificallycreateschildpornography offences,
with punishments of imprisonment for a term of 10
years or a fine of not less than N20 million or to both
fine and imprisonment, depending on the nature of the
offence and the act carried out by the accused persons.
Offences include, amongst others: producing, procuring,
distributing, and possession of child pornography.
•ItoutlawsCyber-stalking and Cyber-bullying and
prescribes punishment ranging from a fine of not less

27 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Olubukola Stella Adesina (2017).
Canadian Social Science, 13
(4), 19-29
than N2 million or imprisonment for a term of not less
than 1 year or to both fine and imprisonment, up to a term
of not less than 10 years or a fine of not less than N25
million or to both fine and imprisonment; depending on
the severity of the offence.
•Itprohibitscybersquatting,whichisregisteringor
using an Internet domain name with bad faith intent to
profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to
someone else, or to profit by selling to its rightful owner.
Individuals who engage in this are liable on conviction
to imprisonment for a term of not less than 2 years or
a fine of not less than N5 million or to both fine and
imprisonment.
•Itforbidsthedistributionofracist and xenophobic
material to the public through a computer system or
network (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), it also prohibits
the use of threats of violence and insulting statements to
persons based on race, religion, colour, descent or national
or ethnic origin. Persons found guilty of this are liable on
conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 5
years or to a fine of not less than N10million or to both
fine and imprisonment.
•Itmandatesthatserviceproviders shall keep all
traffic data and subscriber information having due
regard to the individual’s constitutional Right to privacy,
and shall take appropriate measures to safeguard the
confidentiality of the data retained, processed or retrieved.
•Itallowsfortheinterceptionofelectronic
communication, by way of a court order by a Judge, where
there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the content of
any electronic communication is reasonably required for
the purposes of a criminal investigation or proceedings
(Cybercrimes Act, 2015).
Apart from the Cybercrimes Act, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also been
monitoring and raiding internet cafes, and in most cases,
stopping night browsing at the cafes. According to the
former Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde,
more than 288 persons have been convicted for various
cases of cybercrime across the country; another 234 cases
are still under prosecution in various courts nationwide
while four fugitives have been extradited to the United
States of America (Mutum, 2012).
8. POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES
IN NIGERIA
The reduction of poverty is the most difficult challenge
facing any country in the developing world where on
the average majority of the population is considered
poor (Ogwumike, 2002). In a bid to overcome poverty
of Nigeria, government initiated different policies and
structural programmes between 1977 till date. These
programmes include: Directorate of Food, Roads and
Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), Better Life Programme
(BLP), National Directorate of Employment (NDE);
People” Bank of Nigeria (PBN); Community Bank (CB);
Family Support Programme (FSP); Family Economic
Advancement Programme (FEAP); Poverty Eradication
Programme (PEP); National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NAPEP); and National Economic
Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS). Their
aims are to ameliorate the suffering of the people by
providing them employment opportunities as well as
access to credit facilities to enable them to establish their
own businesses.
Yet, despite the many policies and poverty alleviation
strategies of the Nigerian government, poverty is on
the rise in the country. Aluko (2003) notes that in
Nigeria, government efforts at poverty reduction have
not succeeded in reducing poverty. Some of the factors
responsible for this lie the socio-political and economic
structures, which alienate and exclude the poor from
decisions affecting their welfare. Programmes are
imposed from the top, with huge overheads, which favour
contractors, consultants and the cronies of those in power.
The politicisation of policies aimed at poverty reduction
and the interplay of corrupt practices has often led to the
displacement of goals and the objectives of programmes
designed to reduce the incidence of poverty. Coupled
with this is the problem of political instability, the rapid
turnover of programmes of action and office holders,
leading to the truncation of programmes midstream and
unnecessary duplication and waste.
9. COMBATING CYBERCRIME IN
NIGERIA
First, there is a need to tackle poverty headlong in the
country. There is a need for a development plan that will
revitalize the economy and provide relevant strategies
for combating unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.
The government needs to consider massive employment
generation as an issue of major focus on national
development and economic growth plan. To tackle poverty
in the country, the government needs to formulate and
implement programs that will directly benefit the poor, by
restructuring sources of Nigeria’s gross domestic product
to significantly include variety of industries that are labour
intensive, such as agriculture and industrialization. This
would lead to the diversification of the country’s sources
of revenue, thereby reducing its overdependence on oil
revenue.
Secondly, cybercrime can only be effectively countered
when there is a proper coordination and guidance
available for various stakeholders in Nigeria. Tackling
cybercrime is, and always will be, a shared responsibility
between individuals, industry and government. This
means forging mutually beneficial partnerships to share
information and combine efforts to combat cybercrime.

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Cybercrime and Poverty in Nigeria
28
It is better to prevent cybercrime from happening than to
respond to it after it has occurred. In many cases, effective
preventative measures are relatively low cost and easy to
implement. Users need to take steps to avoid falling victim
to cybercrime and governments and industry need to be
proactive in anticipating where new threats might emerge.
In addition, most cybercrimes go unreported and
when they are reported, a lot of the victims often do
not cooperate with law enforcement agents. There is a
need for victims of cybercrime, whether individuals or
organizations, to cooperate with law enforcement agencies
for effective response. It is also important to spread
awareness on cybercrime prevention to the members
of the society since the cybercriminals are constantly
inventing innovative ways to attack and are in search of
potential victims. There is a need to put centralized online
cybercrime reporting mechanism in place, which provides
victims of cybercrime, a convenient and easy-to use
reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected
cybercriminals.
Furthermore, to combat cybercrimes, international
cooperation is very crucial. Being transnational in nature,
it is but obvious that nations across the globe need to
strengthen their cooperation and form alliances as well as
ensure that their legal, technical and institutional measures
structures are created and work in coherence. Therefore,
it is necessary for nations to reach consensus and
work toward establishing a framework of international
cooperation (Rishi & Gupta, 2015).
CONCLUSION
The paper attempted at establishing a nexus between
poverty and cybercrime in Nigeria from the human
security perspective. While one can blame cybercriminals
in Nigeria as being lazy or greedy, the stark reality is that
most of them perpetuate the act as a means of escaping
the reality of poverty. To them, yahoo yahoo business is a
means of survival. According to the popular maxim, “The
idle hand is the devil’s workshop”; the situation whereby
majority of the people are poor and hungry and a lot of
youths are jobless and unemployed, will, doubtlessly, lead
to high crime rate in the country.
As noted earlier, cybercrime has negative impact on
the economy as well as the image of the country. And with
the increased use and dependence on technologies, there
is an increase in the risk posed by cybercriminals. Thus,
there is need for a holistic approach to combat this crime
in all ramifications. To there is a need for educating the
Nigerian public on the ills of cybercrime and killing of
human beings for the sake of rituals.
Additionally, a strong legislation on cybercrime is
imperative for combating the crime. Therefore, there is a
need to ensure the effectiveness of the 2015 Cybercrimes
Act. Cybercafés in the country must be properly
regulated. It must be ensured that they are properly
registered with the relevant agencies like the Corporate
Affairs Commission. Surveillance hardware that will help
in keeping tab on internet usage and detect cybercrime
must be put to proper use. Also, the country’s intelligence
agencies must be equipped with the right skills and
equipment that will facilitate detection and handling of
cybercrime in the country.
Furthermore, while law is always territory-based, the
tool, the scene, the target, and the subject of cybercrime
are all boundary-independent. Domestic measures will
certainly be of critical importance but not sufficient for
meeting this worldwide challenge. More international
coordination and cooperation are, therefore, essential in
fighting the scourge of cybercrime.
Finally, simple vigilance can go a long way in the
fight against cybercrime. A significant percentage of
cybercrimes can be prevented by just getting the cyber
basics right such as updating software, having strong
passwords and regular system back-ups.
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