CYBERCRIME: EFFECTS AND AFFECTS TO THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

 

 According to (Lakshmi, 2015)  as at 2003 the united states and south korea have the highest cyber attacks of 35.4% and 12.8% respectively . With the population of Nigeria placed  at 160 million from the last census carried out in 2006 ,a recent statistics revealed that about 28.9% have access to the internet and it has also be proven that at 2012.39.6% of African users of internet are actually  Nigerians.

 The word cybercrime simply means a crime committed by  internet criminals using the computer as a tool and the internet as a connector in order to achieve a variety of objectives. Presently, cybercrimes are performed by people of all ages ranging from the young to the old with the majority as youths. In Nigeria, cybercrime has been a major source for the generation of income.

 Cybercrime is a new crime that is gradually growing from one level to the other ,the more the expansion of the internet the more the crime in the country gets expanded and penetrates every section of our society and no one can predict the future ,and is very difficult to trace.

 Cybercrime has become a very significant problem in Nigeria which seem to have no solution. In the year 2017 due to cybercrime, Nigeria was estimated to loss #250billion and 2018 was #288billion .         

We shall highlight some of the major causes of cybercrime in Nigeria.They include:

Unemployment: over 22million  graduates in the country do not have gainful employment, no good paying job ,suffering everywhere, rate of poverty is very high, in these the rate of criminal activities automatically increases because everyone wants to make a living.

Lack of security on personal computer: some personal computer do not have proper  or competent security controls, and as such it is very open to criminal activities.

Lack of cybercrime law: this is another means of encouraging the perpetrators to commit more crime knowing that they can go uncaught ,if the government can come up with a strong laws and able to enforce the law  the rate of cybercrime will reduce.

Inordinate desire for

 Wealth: this another cause of cybercrime in Nigeria, young youth of Nigeria wants to make money very early without waiting for the right time. Youths today are greedy and stingy they are not ready to start from the grass root, and as they will involve themselves in cybercrime to get rich.

Cybercrime is been committed  through the instrumentality of the following:      

                                                                                    

Social media : the internet is a useful way to reach a mass audience without spending a lot of time or money , social media sites can reach large numbers with minimum effort ,it is easy for fraudsters to make their messages  look real and credible.

Email: This is another method cybercriminals use for their personal profit or harm an individual by means of emails. Through the use of the email, a lot of people have deceived and lives wasted.

Hacking : This is the process of knowing the weaknesses in a computer system or a network to by passing the security to gain access to personal data ,cracking the password of a computer that you are not authorized by the owner in order to gain access to the computer for your person profit.

Cyberbullying: This a form of harassment using electronic means, cyberbullying is also known as online bullying.

Spooping around ATM cards: criminals skimming consumers card details and making phone calls to pretend they are from the bank to commit fraud.

Cybercrime has destroyed the reputation of Nigeria making educational system to loss value and has made ,businesses in the country very hard to run , Starting up a small scale business is very difficult because cost has increased  thereby discouraging investment in the country by foreign investors.

Again, we see that  the education in Nigeria  is affected greatly by cybercrime.  Students in Nigeria do not want to go to school to study because of greediness or quest for money enhanced through crime. We see an increase in malpractice in the educational sector ,no attention from student to study their books anymore, lack of respect from student to teachers amongst others.

One of the goals of a good education is to earn a good living and to become a better persons in the society. Young people today will let you know that education in Nigeria is a "scam" because they have money through cybercrime.

  If the educational system continues like this, in future there will be no education in Nigeria, government should act fast to help the country and the education in Nigeria by providing the needs of the masses ,create job opportunity admist providing quality leadership. 

Victor Effemini

Electrical Electronics

OS/20B/1769