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Penal Technique, not a workable way to stop Cybercrime in Nigeria

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According to Black’s law Dictionary, 9th edition, the word penal is defined as “of, or relating to, or being a penalty or punishment, especially for a crime”. Hence one can deduce from the meaning of the word “penal” that penal technique is the means of regulating crime in a given society. The penal technique spells out conducts which are prohibited, the penalty for breach, the procedure for determining the guilt of those who violate the rules and adjudication of appropriate punishment.

Criminal Code(applicable to Southern Nigeria), Penal Code(applicable to Northern Nigeria), Economic and Financial Crime Commission Act, Money Laundering Act, Anti-Corruption Act, Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act, and so on, are laws put in place to prohibit Crime Commission and sanction offenders in Nigeria. For instance Section 419A of the Criminal Code Act establishes that “Obtaining Credit by false pretences or other fraud” is a crime in Nigeria, meanwhile its Subsection 1b provides that punishment for such a crime is imprisonment for three years.

As a permanent feature of a responsible government, it is entitled to Crime Prevention, which is the attempt to deter crime and criminals, more so to discourage deviant behaviours in the society so as to ensure a safe living for the people of such a society. No doubt, in Nigeria the Penal technique is the accentuated means of curbing and correcting deviance, to what extent it has reduced the commission of incessant Crimes and particularly Cyber Crime in Nigeria is the consciousness behind this protest.

Tracing down to the year 2017, the war against Cyber-Crime wore a new dress. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) inherited the ingeniune fight against Cyber Criminals from a section of Nigerian Police known as Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The Commission began the strict arrest and prosecution of people suspected to be internet fraudsters, hence a background survey reveals that this year, the agency has already made arrest of not less than 250 alleged internet fraudsters and has secured the conviction of about 50 of them. Although this is a laudable attempt indeed, to put an end to Cyber Crime business that is fast rising in Nigeria and its West African Cronies, but I dare say that the fight against this particular crime is beyond court and jail.

However, the premise of this protest is not to fault or discourage the Criminal justice system. Rather, to make known that daily clamp down of immense amount of People suspected to indulge in Cyber Crime is making no progress in reducing the Crime. As I pen down this, with less ambiguity I can conclude that nothing less than 1,000 students from each Nigerian varsity still indulge in Cyber-crime or related Offences. Thus with proven facts of mass arrests and Convictions, Still increase and sustenance of this crime explicitly exposes the ineffectiveness of Penal Technique as a means of correcting this immoral and unlawful act in the Nigeria Society.

For a Crime to occur, Several factors must come together: an Individual or group must have the desire or motivation to participate in a banned or prohibited behavior; at least some of the participants must have the skills and tools needed to commit such a crime; and finally an opportunity must have been acted upon. Above factors can only be realized sequel to vulnerabilities created by negligence and irresponsibility of the Nigerian government for decades.

A News Headline strewing like wildfire which calls for concern is deemed relevant to this matter; “Insecurity: The poor now revolting against the rich, Senator warns”. Thus, foremost misappropriation or non-sustenance of “Conferral of Social Benefit Technique” is a Preliminary of Major huddle of Insecurity and particularly Cyber offences battling Nigeria concurrently.

This technique does not seek to directly regulate the conduct of members of the Society. Rather it stresses that if a government is not committed to improvement in the welfare of the people, this will lead to disharmony and disequilibrium in the society, such as apathy, unpatriotic actions, and social disaccord. The task of ensuring maximum welfare of the people is in the expectation that this will at the end bring about order, peace and justice in the society.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security, Medicare, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, Food Bank, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credit and Housing Assistance are instances of benefits that the indigenes and non-Indigenes of America enjoy. In Nigeria if at all there are few social benefit programs, none is devoid of misappropriation, mediocrity, ineptitude, partiality and nepotism, in-fact its beneficiaries are the already rich, so to speak. Civility and technology has exposed the youths to the reality of the day, they are aware of how privileged citizens of other nations are; the consequence is huge migration, and unclean way to sought living. Hence the government must be focused and committed to the optimum wellbeing of the people. As they say, “no privilege to be a Nigerian”, truly It is not far from the truth, unlike Canada where all citizens are entitled to free health care services, thousands of Nigerians die annually by the hands of less or intense ailment because of financial incapability.

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The current outrageous uprising of “Yahoo Yahoo” business in Nigeria is allusive to a famous Yoruba adage: “Omo Ti a o ko, Ni gbe ile ti a ko ta”. In English, it means that a child who we fail to bring up well will end up lavishing one’s treasure. The reality is that Youths who engage in Cyber Crimes are lavishing the reputation of the Nation and Government who have failed on their part to give a proper upbringing to them. Truth be told, mass engagement in Cyber offences is consequential to the Extreme poverty rate in Nigeria. Moreover the EFCC Operatives cannot deny the fact that when their victims are quizzed on reasons for indulgence, their reasons are poverty motivated. Therefore one major way to end this crime is poverty Alleviation.

Anti-Graft agencies and other government setups who truly want to end Cyber-Crimes must be more committed to the “Situational Crime Prevention” (SCP) approach. It is a Concept that employs a preventive approach by focusing on methods to reduce the opportunities for a crime. This Concept however does an examination of the circumstances that allow a particular type of crime. By gaining a grounded understanding of the circumstances, Mechanisms are set up to change the relevant environment with the aim of reducing the opportunities for commission of the crime. Thus this “SCP” concept focus more on crime prevention rather than the punishment of Criminals and its intention is to make criminal activities less appealing to offenders. Therefore Instead of continuous arrest of Cyber Criminals, it is suggested that the Crime itself be arrested by any means, then no criminal would be found wanting. Although, Crimes cannot be totally evicted in a society but practically Cyber Crime in particular is tamable.

As I pen down this with utmost uncheerfulness, I can assure that Nigerian youths are not Lazy and are unarguably one of the most hardworking people in the world, that is, if an “Enabling Society” is created by the government, indeed it will be a revolutional process to divert the untiring effort used in defrauding victims to that of growing the Nation’s wealth and building a large technology industry. With Utmost alacrity, the Nigerian Government must employ alternative strategies to tame down this Cyber-crimes, if not the result would be that, Courts will be over burdened with cases which in turn will result to retardment of justice, it will also amount to unreasonable over population of Prisons, Therefore the choice is left to a reasonable or responsible government whether to Incarcerate its Citizens or rather focus on their Rehabilitation

Hence, let thy not be oblivious, Cyber Crime Crusaders, that thy anxious fight against Cyber-Criminals without social rehabilitation will do nothing but open an avenue for another alien crime, which will in turn be more felonious than the former, therefore, what then shall it profit thee to birth another serious criminal activity and apparently put the society in a more unsafe state.

As much as the Nigerian government is admonished and deemed guilty of this social decadence, the realization of a Cyber-Crime free Nigeria is not saddled to the government alone, individuals, groups and civil societies are encouraged to do in their capacities programmes that are of tangible benefits to the less privileged and youths of huge potentials. For instance, helping a person with a lucrative idea to raise capital will do more good than bad to the society at large, if not, such a person may have reasons to engage in fishy deals to raise capital. Truth be told, many thriving businesses today are fraudulently built on a sham foundation if properly investigated.

Ending on a sober note, it is advised that already convicted Cyber-Criminals and other offenders after serving Punishments in diverse ways should not be left to live a low esteemed life after; they must be recycled to profit the society. Else The Nation risks turning into a cataclysmic Crime Scene.

By Micheal Adenola…

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