A SOCIOECONOMIC UNDERPINNINGS OF 'YAHOO-YAHOO' EXPLOITS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
Abstract:The study examined the social and economic factors associated with youths' involvement in
cybercrime in Lagos metropolis, southwestern Nigeria, and the implications of this for the
youths and the Nigerian society at large. Specifically, it aimed to examine general
perceptions about yahoo-yahoo (Internet fraud), identify the causal factors of cyber
criminality among the youths, and investigate the effects of youths' fraudulent cyber
exploits on Nigeria's global image. Structured questionnaires containing twenty-five
question items were distributed to gather data from 330 respondents using the Multi-stage
Sampling Technique (RST). Findings revealed that awareness was significantly high about
youths' cybercrime (yahoo-yahoo) exploits in Lagos; most youths involved in internet fraud
have attended school up to at least primary school; a good number proceeded to tertiary
institutions. Unemployment, poverty, and peer influence were identified as major causal
factors of internet fraud among youths. Cybercrime was noted to have denied several
Nigerians opportunities abroad; it has reduced Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) into the
country and has greatly impinged on the future of Nigerian youths. The study suggests a
reactivation of the old indigenous African value system that exalts hard work and detests
corrupt practices and other forms of illegality and social repugnance. The content of
Nigeria's educational curriculum would also need to be re-constructed towards equipping
the Nigerian youths with sufficient knowledge of the damaging consequences of cybercrime
at individual, family, and societal levels.