OVER 90 YOUTHS IN SOUTH EAST CONVICTED OF CYBER CRIMES ARE MOSTLY GRADUATES…EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC is worried about the increasing rate of cyber crimes among the nation’s youths.

The concern was expressed by the Regional Commander of the Commission in the South-East, Mr. Usman Imam at the sixteenth Anti-Corruption Situation Room in Enugu.

Mr. Imam revealed that from January this year till date, over ninety youths in the zone who according to him were mostly graduates had been convicted of the crime.

An Anti-corruption activist and Convener of the forum, Mr. Suleiman Arigbabu while speaking on how corruption was affecting the development of small and micro businesses in Nigeria,identified diversion of Federal Government SME Intervention funds by corrupt public officials as a major hindrance to the growth of SMEs in Nigeria.

Mr. Arigbabu who is also the Executive Director of a non-governmental organisation known as Human and Environmental Agency, HEDA, stated that unless this phenomenon was eliminated in the country’s public financial management, the nation would continue to grapple with high unemployment which proper development of SME could address.

A Management Consultant, Mr. Celestine Okeke at the event regretted that less than ten percent of beneficiaries of Federal Government Intervention programmes for small businesses are actual business owners.

Mr. Okeke urged small business owners to organise themselves and set agenda to have easy access to such funds.

Participants in the forum who are mainly anti-corruption campaigners, association of small businesses and farmers called for laws to guide the disbursement of Federal Government funds to small and growing businesses.

NDUBISI OZOILO