CYBER CRIME IN NIGERIA: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
ABSTRACT
It is surprising seeing the country, Nigeria, which is bound with plenty mineral and human resources, to be living object poverty. Instead of using the resources for the benefit of all, it is only a selected view that are using it for their selfish interest. The technological revolution of the world that have seen man, the bow and arrow user, during hunting and gathering period to man the user of microchips computer. This has provided an alternative for the few among the poverty shrink people who are desperate to get to the top. This is technological crime called CYBER CRIME, has become a social phenomenon which sociologists must look into. In this paper, an historical preview of the Nigeria nation shall be examined after the introduction with definition and classification of crime between them. Likewise theoretical analysis of the cause, perception and effect of this social reality will be examine before proffering a solution to this menace after which, we shall conclude the paper.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
CYBER CRIME:- This concepts is employ in this paper as any form of stealing involving the use of computer gadget.
NIGERIA: This is country of over 140 million (2006 census). It is located on the latitude 04oN - 15oN and 3oE to 15oE. it is surrounded by Benin Republic, Niger Chad and Cameroon, also are all her neighbor on the West coast of Africa. Over 60% of the population live in absent poverty < BOS, 2006), with high level of unemployment.
SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: this is an analysis routed in the explanation of human society, most especially in explaining the cause ad effect, of an action or structure ion men and it amendment.
A CYBER CRIME IN NIGERIA: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
The country, Nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of Africa is enmeshed in an emulating syndrome called cyber crime. Its manifestation is pandemic and difficult to eradicate. The task of re-stigmatizing cyber crime and re-dignifying honest are not as easy as that of institutionalizing a deterrence mechanism like code of conduct bureau, Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC), Economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) and many more. This is after many years at the bottom of the ladder of the corrupt nations of the world, which is based on some index set by the Transparency International (TI), an anti corruption crusader group.
Corruption the father of cyber crime take many form in Nigeria from the police man that receives favour from government, student that buy gift for lectures or pay school staff to pass examination or receive certificate Teachers/ Lecturer that organise special centres during public examination to parent that give token to their children before they can help out with an assignment. To advanced fee fraud popularly called “419”, which has given birth to cyber crime.
Needless to say that cyber crime popularly called ‘Yahoo’ is a off shoot of advanced fee fraud. Advanced fee fraud which became popular in the early ‘90s, has now produced its first offspring with mostly young fellow (most especially the unemployed) as its practitioners. But the quest on the lip of social scientists and historians is, ‘how did a society that value hard work, cooperation and contentment now deeply rotten in corruption. That Ogunsanya (2006) simply refers top as stealing.
The answer to the above can be link to the materialistic value of the country. Nigerians now worship those that have plenty material resources without making inquiry about the source of such material property. But, some people will be eager to point out that ‘why has materialistic value of other societies has not make them enmesh in corruption? I want to point out here that, the answer to such argument can be find in the circumstances that led to this new social reality. Before examine this, let us see how various scholars have defined crime and its classification.
DEFINITION OF CRIME AND ITS CLASSIFICATION
In sociology, the interest is in those behaviours that attract widespread disapproval and punishment in the society. Crime is the most obvious form of deviance in our society. Crimes are those act that violate the criminal laws of a local state or national government. This definition is inadequate when are considers white-collar crime. We can therefore speak of crime as acts that threaten the state or citizens whom the state is under obligation to protect. Crime covers a wide range of behaviour and varies in terms of time and place.
Predatory crimes are commonly mentioned. Predatory crimes are acts that have victims who suffer loss of property or some kind of physical harm. In general Giddens et al (2005) defined crime as any act that break the law. Crime has been categorizes into different types, some of them are now examined below.
ASSAULT: This is an unlawful attack by one person upon another person for the purpose of watching severe bodily injuries.
PROPERTY CRIME: this involves theft of property belongings to other people. It is the most reported crime in Nigeria e.g car theft, robbery etc.
Burglary: Burglary is the unlawful entry of a building in order to amount theft your fellows:
It does not necessarily involved the use of force to gain entry.
• Vices: These are criminals activities in which the offenders suffer most from his /her criminal act, e.g suicide, drugs addiction, gangling etc.
• Organised Crimes: These are those criminal activities that look like genuine business, but one largely illegal/
• White Collars Crime: This refers to crime committed by the more affluent members of the society. It mostly go punish. It concludes tax fraud, illegal sales practices, embezzlement etc.
• Public Disorder Crime: This is the behavioural pattern that are treated as criminal acts only when such acts occur before an audience that feel offended for instance, disorderly conduct, indecent exposure etc.
• Crime committed with the use of computer: This is the latest and it has grown in recent time. It is an illegal act for which knowledge of computer technology is used to perpetuate such offences. Even of recent, mobile phone is now being making use of. This is what advanced free fraud and cyber crime practitioners make use .
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NIGERIA IN SOCIETY
Nigeria as a country is a marriage of over 250 ethnic groups. They have different cultures, while in some instances there are some similarities in their ways of life. Historically, all ethnic groups that make up Nigeria lived in a mechanical solidarity life, where collective consciousness completely enveloped their whole conscious and coincides with all parts in it. There culture shows that they value hard work, cooperation, contentment and care for fellow brothers. Their hatred for corruption can be seen in their folklores such as in tis Yoruba ethnic group’s folklore;
1. Kinn ni n o fole se laye ti mowa 2ce
laye ti mo wa kaka kin jale
kaka ki jale ma kuk deru
kin ni n fole se laye ti mo wa
2. Eni to jale a dele ejo 2ce
Adajo a wa fewon si lese
Fewon si lese bi olu igbe
Eni to jale adele ejo
3. Aye e fole segbe ti mo ni 2ce
Eger ti mo ni ewon ki sun won
Eewon ko sun won fomo luwabi
Aye ema fole s’egbe ti mo ni
4. Oluwa ma fole segbe ti mo ni 2ce
Egbe ti mo ni kaka kin jale
Kaka kojale bob a ku oto
Aye ema fole s;egbe ti mo ni
5. Beni to jale ba lola laye 2ce
Bo balola laye ko le rorun wo
Ko le rorun wo bolojo bade
Beni to jale ba lola laye
The above justified the hatred of this people for corruption; they cherished hard work and put the community first before other things. This enhances their harmonious existence, nay their development then. Sadly enough, this has since been thrown into the dust bin for worship and glorification of money and material resources, without asking for the source of such possession.
Alas, the changes that have transformed this country have seen it imbibing another value different from what their fore fathers use to developed this society. The new value has materialism, individualism; competitiveness has some of its attributes. Though, it is not has if this value is not good, or is totally responsible for this pandemic, but the manner through which this value is inculcated into their ways of life is questionable. The manner in which colonial master forced their value on Nigerian society nay the African continent is something that is worrisome.
Hence, the value was received like a player that used a through pass to score in an offside position in a football match.
Though, the British colonial master that colonized Nigeria, said that she used indirect rule, which she claimed respected the tradition of the colonies, as against the French that showed their readiness to forcefully make French out of Africans. However, it is pertinent to show that the British also forced themselves on the Africans, this can be seen in the way they forced themselves on the Egbas and Ijebu people of Nigeria, despite huge resistance on the aprt of the indigenes (Babalola, 2000).
THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF CYBER CRIME
IN TERM OF CAUSE
There are various scholars that their works are relevance in explaining how Nigeria society gets to this stage. In as it has rightly said in the beginning a postmodernism approach will be use because I believed no single theory can give a valid and reliable analysis of the cause and effective of this pandemic on the Nigerian society.
The work of Marxist writers such as Walter Rodney and Claude Ake had pointed it out that the colonial masters saw nothing good in the value of the continent. Hence, they forced their capitalist value on the communal oriented people of Africa. This put Africans in a tight situation. The forced value was not rightly imbibe, because Africans detest it while their was forcefully taken away from them, even to the extent of chaining and mining those taken as salves among them. This however, created the lacuna between the outcome of this value in African society and their western counterpart. Independent granted to Africans would however allow the continent to remedy the situation, but the colonial masters planted their agents as ruling elite, and these elite keep dancing to the tunes of their masters, while they also corruptibly enriched themselves. And as Pareto (1963) and Mosca (1939) has put it, the elites (agents of colonial master), who are the minority, use their cunning, organizational ability and internal organisational features to uphold onto the society power as they face an unorganised and fragmented masses (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004).
To maintain this status quo, the school, an agent of transmitting new universalistic value (fraud) has been performing this role effectively. This is shown in the corruptible relationship between students academic and non academic staffs of our schools, and to the large extent, the staff of external examination bodies. In our schools, those that are academically sound and want a new value from this status quo are always a victim of carry over(s), missing script, low C.G.P.A, or even extra year, if not expelled for flimsy excuses. No wonder Bowles and Gitins (1976) accused the school of passing more of hidden curriculum than what it shows to be. Hence, this value keeps moving into new generation. This is why majority of perpetrators of cyber crime are young ones especially undergraduate. Because of this, this pandemic has now spread across all facet of life of Nigeria society and it has become the general ideology. This is what has now resulted into the recent phenomenon of cyber crime, also known as ‘yahoo yahoo’, that Nigerian youths has now taken as profession, despite the presence of anti corruption agencies.
IN TERM OF PERCEPTION OF THE SOCIETY
Culture made man, man made culture s a general believes within sociological circle. Law is a part of society’s culture. Hence, law made men, man made law. It is in line with this analogy that Howard Backer, an interactions postulated the labelling theory of crime.
Labelling theory is a label for a cluster of related ideas rather than a unified view. The sees crime as a marginal activity carried on by subcultures rather than the life style of the main stream of society. Becker found that becoming a crucial (scanner in line with this paper) depended on one’s acceptance into the subculture, close attitudes towards non-users.
Hence, deviant act like cyber crime in interpreted by labelling theorists not as set of characteristic of individuals or groups, but as a process of interaction between deviants that are must try to know why they are tagged “deviant”.
In line to the above, people who represent the forces of law and order or are able to impose definitions of correctional morality on others do most of the label. That is, they are the ore that determined act which is criminal in nature and the physical look or ways of life of those that break the rules of the larger society.
Hence, when a person is label as a criminal or deviant (like scanner), she/he will be treated as such.
It is on this basis that people that use most of their time in internet, charting, spending frivolously with no genuine source of income are mostly labelled as scammer.
Though labelling theory has been criticized on many ground one of it is lack of emphasis on he process tat led to act defined as deviant. This is arbitrary as there is need to look into the cause of this act then the perception of the people about the act.
IN TERM OF EFFECT
Having seen where we are coming from and where we are. It is pertinent to examine the effect of this social reality on Nigerians and the rest of the world. It is a social fact that change in the value of Nigerian society has bring about adaptive upgradement in the society, as well as the inclusion of some sub system like Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent and Corrupt Practice Commission and other related offenses (ICPC). But, we need to know what contribution the syndrome is making to the progress and retrogression of this country.
It is an objective fact that this syndrome has been of great benefit to some people in the society, especially the practitioners and their benefactors, and it is dysfunctional to the victims of the scammer, their dependant and of course the Nigerian society.
Suffices me to say that ‘yahoo’ has been functional to these individuals that perpetrate this act. It gives them material possession, bestowed a high prestige on them among their peers. For the rightful thinking perpetrators among them, it has provided capital for launching their own financial empire. Their immediate family members as well as their friends are reaping from this act. Likewise, the larger society has been benefiting from the capital that these people are injecting to the economy.
Hence, this phenomenon is functional to these aforementioned groups of people.
Paradoxically, this phenomenon has to be view likes a coin that has two sides, the first side has been appraised, and likewise, we need to look at the other side. Without any sense of remorse, permit me to say that, cyber crime phenomenon has been dysfunctional to this country. Evidences are bound that it is not only the person that are duped that suffered for this, its immediate family dependants as well as the society where these victims are from directly feels the effect of this act. The scanners’ country also suffers image problem, even to the extent of loosing billions of naira, legitimate investment that suppose to come to the country. Hence, the companies that ought to have been established and employ unemployed Nigerian can not come. Thus, unemployment continues to rampage the country like ‘Ijegun pipeline fire’.
More so, other Nigerians that go about with their lawful business have also suffered from this image created by fellow country men. They have been harassed in foreign countries and lost billions of naira that would have help in the country’s quest to be one of the twenty developed country by the year 2020.
Following the work of Merton (1968) on the need to appraise the net balance of functional consequences of phenomenon instead of postulate of universal functionalism, permit to conclude, this by saying cyber crime is dysfunctional in it's entirely.
WAY OUT
As it has been showed in the above, cyber crime has been a torn in the flesh of Nigerians and the rest of the world. The present predicament must not be allowed to remain.
This is because its plays more dysfunctional roles to Nigerian may the world the positive roles it’s playing. Therefore, every stakeholders must work together to redefined the value of this great nation.
In line with this the burden must not be for the anticorruption agencies alone, though the ruling class is now seeing it as a point of duty after a lot of hullabaloo from international community and Nigerians, who see the need to fight this pandemic, nay redefinition of Nigeria value (this is one of the things that led to Nigerian heart project).
It is important that this project must go beyond the propaganda tool that the federal government has been using it for. It must not just been giving out 6 million USD for CNN every year, or every minutes jingle on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Initiatives like school anti corruption initiative that Independent Corrupt Practice Commission is involving in, must be strengthen and encourage.
More so, the education institution must be fully monitored while appraising the character of the lectures and teachers and the content of the curriculum being taught. Because their act can easily be imbibe by the students they are breeding for the larger society. The family as an institution must play their role effectively by instilling positive value into their wards.
Furthermore, the political will top do this must be put in place by the government because without this, this anti-corruption war will just be a mere lip service. The freedom of information bill must be passed by the National Assembly and be fully implanted by relevance authority. It must be mentioned that the anti cyber crime must not be for a selected few. All perpetrators must be brought to look, because the constitution is supreme to all.
CONCLUSION
To curb and eventually eradicate cyber crime, adult, children and youth need to be enriched with the “power of distinguishing right from wrong”. All schools should return to the teaching of moral edcuation in order to empower all students with the spirit of steward while we adults live exemplary live, reflecting truth, kindness, dignity of labour and integrity. With all hands on deck, the evil of corruptible act like cyber crime will change for good as:
Its grief Transforms into Gladness
Its trial Translates into Triumph
Its shame Transcends into Fame
Its test travails into testimony.
(Ogunsanya, 2006)
REFERENCES
Babalola B.T.A (2000): Principle of Government and Citizenship Education
GOAD Publication Abeokuta.
Giddens Anthony et al (2005): Introduction to Sociology ww. Norton and
Company Inc New York.
Haralambs and Holborn (2004): Sociology: Themes and Perspective Collins
Books London.
Nwachuckwu Ugbomah (2005): Basic Sociology New Ark Communication.
Lagos.
Shoremi et al (20030: The Science of Society: A Sociological Introduction
CESAP Ago-Iwoye.
Walter Rodney (2005): How Europe Undeveloped Africa Panaf Punlishing Inc.
Abuja.
UNPUBLISHED PAPER
Ajayi Vincent (2006): Sociology of Bribery and Corruption in Nigerian Society
(2006): Paper Presented at Atan JDPC Workshop on Anti-Graft / Anti – Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
Odunuga Segun (2006): Chairman Opening Speech at Atan JDPC Workshop
on Anti-Graft/Anti-Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
Ogunsanya E.A (2006): Paper on Social Implications of Graft in Nigeria Polity:
Christian, Muslim and Traditional Belief (2006): Paper Presented at Atan JDPC Workshop on Anti-Graft / Anti-Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
It is surprising seeing the country, Nigeria, which is bound with plenty mineral and human resources, to be living object poverty. Instead of using the resources for the benefit of all, it is only a selected view that are using it for their selfish interest. The technological revolution of the world that have seen man, the bow and arrow user, during hunting and gathering period to man the user of microchips computer. This has provided an alternative for the few among the poverty shrink people who are desperate to get to the top. This is technological crime called CYBER CRIME, has become a social phenomenon which sociologists must look into. In this paper, an historical preview of the Nigeria nation shall be examined after the introduction with definition and classification of crime between them. Likewise theoretical analysis of the cause, perception and effect of this social reality will be examine before proffering a solution to this menace after which, we shall conclude the paper.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
CYBER CRIME:- This concepts is employ in this paper as any form of stealing involving the use of computer gadget.
NIGERIA: This is country of over 140 million (2006 census). It is located on the latitude 04oN - 15oN and 3oE to 15oE. it is surrounded by Benin Republic, Niger Chad and Cameroon, also are all her neighbor on the West coast of Africa. Over 60% of the population live in absent poverty < BOS, 2006), with high level of unemployment.
SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: this is an analysis routed in the explanation of human society, most especially in explaining the cause ad effect, of an action or structure ion men and it amendment.
A CYBER CRIME IN NIGERIA: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
The country, Nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of Africa is enmeshed in an emulating syndrome called cyber crime. Its manifestation is pandemic and difficult to eradicate. The task of re-stigmatizing cyber crime and re-dignifying honest are not as easy as that of institutionalizing a deterrence mechanism like code of conduct bureau, Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC), Economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) and many more. This is after many years at the bottom of the ladder of the corrupt nations of the world, which is based on some index set by the Transparency International (TI), an anti corruption crusader group.
Corruption the father of cyber crime take many form in Nigeria from the police man that receives favour from government, student that buy gift for lectures or pay school staff to pass examination or receive certificate Teachers/ Lecturer that organise special centres during public examination to parent that give token to their children before they can help out with an assignment. To advanced fee fraud popularly called “419”, which has given birth to cyber crime.
Needless to say that cyber crime popularly called ‘Yahoo’ is a off shoot of advanced fee fraud. Advanced fee fraud which became popular in the early ‘90s, has now produced its first offspring with mostly young fellow (most especially the unemployed) as its practitioners. But the quest on the lip of social scientists and historians is, ‘how did a society that value hard work, cooperation and contentment now deeply rotten in corruption. That Ogunsanya (2006) simply refers top as stealing.
The answer to the above can be link to the materialistic value of the country. Nigerians now worship those that have plenty material resources without making inquiry about the source of such material property. But, some people will be eager to point out that ‘why has materialistic value of other societies has not make them enmesh in corruption? I want to point out here that, the answer to such argument can be find in the circumstances that led to this new social reality. Before examine this, let us see how various scholars have defined crime and its classification.
DEFINITION OF CRIME AND ITS CLASSIFICATION
In sociology, the interest is in those behaviours that attract widespread disapproval and punishment in the society. Crime is the most obvious form of deviance in our society. Crimes are those act that violate the criminal laws of a local state or national government. This definition is inadequate when are considers white-collar crime. We can therefore speak of crime as acts that threaten the state or citizens whom the state is under obligation to protect. Crime covers a wide range of behaviour and varies in terms of time and place.
Predatory crimes are commonly mentioned. Predatory crimes are acts that have victims who suffer loss of property or some kind of physical harm. In general Giddens et al (2005) defined crime as any act that break the law. Crime has been categorizes into different types, some of them are now examined below.
ASSAULT: This is an unlawful attack by one person upon another person for the purpose of watching severe bodily injuries.
PROPERTY CRIME: this involves theft of property belongings to other people. It is the most reported crime in Nigeria e.g car theft, robbery etc.
Burglary: Burglary is the unlawful entry of a building in order to amount theft your fellows:
It does not necessarily involved the use of force to gain entry.
• Vices: These are criminals activities in which the offenders suffer most from his /her criminal act, e.g suicide, drugs addiction, gangling etc.
• Organised Crimes: These are those criminal activities that look like genuine business, but one largely illegal/
• White Collars Crime: This refers to crime committed by the more affluent members of the society. It mostly go punish. It concludes tax fraud, illegal sales practices, embezzlement etc.
• Public Disorder Crime: This is the behavioural pattern that are treated as criminal acts only when such acts occur before an audience that feel offended for instance, disorderly conduct, indecent exposure etc.
• Crime committed with the use of computer: This is the latest and it has grown in recent time. It is an illegal act for which knowledge of computer technology is used to perpetuate such offences. Even of recent, mobile phone is now being making use of. This is what advanced free fraud and cyber crime practitioners make use .
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NIGERIA IN SOCIETY
Nigeria as a country is a marriage of over 250 ethnic groups. They have different cultures, while in some instances there are some similarities in their ways of life. Historically, all ethnic groups that make up Nigeria lived in a mechanical solidarity life, where collective consciousness completely enveloped their whole conscious and coincides with all parts in it. There culture shows that they value hard work, cooperation, contentment and care for fellow brothers. Their hatred for corruption can be seen in their folklores such as in tis Yoruba ethnic group’s folklore;
1. Kinn ni n o fole se laye ti mowa 2ce
laye ti mo wa kaka kin jale
kaka ki jale ma kuk deru
kin ni n fole se laye ti mo wa
2. Eni to jale a dele ejo 2ce
Adajo a wa fewon si lese
Fewon si lese bi olu igbe
Eni to jale adele ejo
3. Aye e fole segbe ti mo ni 2ce
Eger ti mo ni ewon ki sun won
Eewon ko sun won fomo luwabi
Aye ema fole s’egbe ti mo ni
4. Oluwa ma fole segbe ti mo ni 2ce
Egbe ti mo ni kaka kin jale
Kaka kojale bob a ku oto
Aye ema fole s;egbe ti mo ni
5. Beni to jale ba lola laye 2ce
Bo balola laye ko le rorun wo
Ko le rorun wo bolojo bade
Beni to jale ba lola laye
The above justified the hatred of this people for corruption; they cherished hard work and put the community first before other things. This enhances their harmonious existence, nay their development then. Sadly enough, this has since been thrown into the dust bin for worship and glorification of money and material resources, without asking for the source of such possession.
Alas, the changes that have transformed this country have seen it imbibing another value different from what their fore fathers use to developed this society. The new value has materialism, individualism; competitiveness has some of its attributes. Though, it is not has if this value is not good, or is totally responsible for this pandemic, but the manner through which this value is inculcated into their ways of life is questionable. The manner in which colonial master forced their value on Nigerian society nay the African continent is something that is worrisome.
Hence, the value was received like a player that used a through pass to score in an offside position in a football match.
Though, the British colonial master that colonized Nigeria, said that she used indirect rule, which she claimed respected the tradition of the colonies, as against the French that showed their readiness to forcefully make French out of Africans. However, it is pertinent to show that the British also forced themselves on the Africans, this can be seen in the way they forced themselves on the Egbas and Ijebu people of Nigeria, despite huge resistance on the aprt of the indigenes (Babalola, 2000).
THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF CYBER CRIME
IN TERM OF CAUSE
There are various scholars that their works are relevance in explaining how Nigeria society gets to this stage. In as it has rightly said in the beginning a postmodernism approach will be use because I believed no single theory can give a valid and reliable analysis of the cause and effective of this pandemic on the Nigerian society.
The work of Marxist writers such as Walter Rodney and Claude Ake had pointed it out that the colonial masters saw nothing good in the value of the continent. Hence, they forced their capitalist value on the communal oriented people of Africa. This put Africans in a tight situation. The forced value was not rightly imbibe, because Africans detest it while their was forcefully taken away from them, even to the extent of chaining and mining those taken as salves among them. This however, created the lacuna between the outcome of this value in African society and their western counterpart. Independent granted to Africans would however allow the continent to remedy the situation, but the colonial masters planted their agents as ruling elite, and these elite keep dancing to the tunes of their masters, while they also corruptibly enriched themselves. And as Pareto (1963) and Mosca (1939) has put it, the elites (agents of colonial master), who are the minority, use their cunning, organizational ability and internal organisational features to uphold onto the society power as they face an unorganised and fragmented masses (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004).
To maintain this status quo, the school, an agent of transmitting new universalistic value (fraud) has been performing this role effectively. This is shown in the corruptible relationship between students academic and non academic staffs of our schools, and to the large extent, the staff of external examination bodies. In our schools, those that are academically sound and want a new value from this status quo are always a victim of carry over(s), missing script, low C.G.P.A, or even extra year, if not expelled for flimsy excuses. No wonder Bowles and Gitins (1976) accused the school of passing more of hidden curriculum than what it shows to be. Hence, this value keeps moving into new generation. This is why majority of perpetrators of cyber crime are young ones especially undergraduate. Because of this, this pandemic has now spread across all facet of life of Nigeria society and it has become the general ideology. This is what has now resulted into the recent phenomenon of cyber crime, also known as ‘yahoo yahoo’, that Nigerian youths has now taken as profession, despite the presence of anti corruption agencies.
IN TERM OF PERCEPTION OF THE SOCIETY
Culture made man, man made culture s a general believes within sociological circle. Law is a part of society’s culture. Hence, law made men, man made law. It is in line with this analogy that Howard Backer, an interactions postulated the labelling theory of crime.
Labelling theory is a label for a cluster of related ideas rather than a unified view. The sees crime as a marginal activity carried on by subcultures rather than the life style of the main stream of society. Becker found that becoming a crucial (scanner in line with this paper) depended on one’s acceptance into the subculture, close attitudes towards non-users.
Hence, deviant act like cyber crime in interpreted by labelling theorists not as set of characteristic of individuals or groups, but as a process of interaction between deviants that are must try to know why they are tagged “deviant”.
In line to the above, people who represent the forces of law and order or are able to impose definitions of correctional morality on others do most of the label. That is, they are the ore that determined act which is criminal in nature and the physical look or ways of life of those that break the rules of the larger society.
Hence, when a person is label as a criminal or deviant (like scanner), she/he will be treated as such.
It is on this basis that people that use most of their time in internet, charting, spending frivolously with no genuine source of income are mostly labelled as scammer.
Though labelling theory has been criticized on many ground one of it is lack of emphasis on he process tat led to act defined as deviant. This is arbitrary as there is need to look into the cause of this act then the perception of the people about the act.
IN TERM OF EFFECT
Having seen where we are coming from and where we are. It is pertinent to examine the effect of this social reality on Nigerians and the rest of the world. It is a social fact that change in the value of Nigerian society has bring about adaptive upgradement in the society, as well as the inclusion of some sub system like Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent and Corrupt Practice Commission and other related offenses (ICPC). But, we need to know what contribution the syndrome is making to the progress and retrogression of this country.
It is an objective fact that this syndrome has been of great benefit to some people in the society, especially the practitioners and their benefactors, and it is dysfunctional to the victims of the scammer, their dependant and of course the Nigerian society.
Suffices me to say that ‘yahoo’ has been functional to these individuals that perpetrate this act. It gives them material possession, bestowed a high prestige on them among their peers. For the rightful thinking perpetrators among them, it has provided capital for launching their own financial empire. Their immediate family members as well as their friends are reaping from this act. Likewise, the larger society has been benefiting from the capital that these people are injecting to the economy.
Hence, this phenomenon is functional to these aforementioned groups of people.
Paradoxically, this phenomenon has to be view likes a coin that has two sides, the first side has been appraised, and likewise, we need to look at the other side. Without any sense of remorse, permit me to say that, cyber crime phenomenon has been dysfunctional to this country. Evidences are bound that it is not only the person that are duped that suffered for this, its immediate family dependants as well as the society where these victims are from directly feels the effect of this act. The scanners’ country also suffers image problem, even to the extent of loosing billions of naira, legitimate investment that suppose to come to the country. Hence, the companies that ought to have been established and employ unemployed Nigerian can not come. Thus, unemployment continues to rampage the country like ‘Ijegun pipeline fire’.
More so, other Nigerians that go about with their lawful business have also suffered from this image created by fellow country men. They have been harassed in foreign countries and lost billions of naira that would have help in the country’s quest to be one of the twenty developed country by the year 2020.
Following the work of Merton (1968) on the need to appraise the net balance of functional consequences of phenomenon instead of postulate of universal functionalism, permit to conclude, this by saying cyber crime is dysfunctional in it's entirely.
WAY OUT
As it has been showed in the above, cyber crime has been a torn in the flesh of Nigerians and the rest of the world. The present predicament must not be allowed to remain.
This is because its plays more dysfunctional roles to Nigerian may the world the positive roles it’s playing. Therefore, every stakeholders must work together to redefined the value of this great nation.
In line with this the burden must not be for the anticorruption agencies alone, though the ruling class is now seeing it as a point of duty after a lot of hullabaloo from international community and Nigerians, who see the need to fight this pandemic, nay redefinition of Nigeria value (this is one of the things that led to Nigerian heart project).
It is important that this project must go beyond the propaganda tool that the federal government has been using it for. It must not just been giving out 6 million USD for CNN every year, or every minutes jingle on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Initiatives like school anti corruption initiative that Independent Corrupt Practice Commission is involving in, must be strengthen and encourage.
More so, the education institution must be fully monitored while appraising the character of the lectures and teachers and the content of the curriculum being taught. Because their act can easily be imbibe by the students they are breeding for the larger society. The family as an institution must play their role effectively by instilling positive value into their wards.
Furthermore, the political will top do this must be put in place by the government because without this, this anti-corruption war will just be a mere lip service. The freedom of information bill must be passed by the National Assembly and be fully implanted by relevance authority. It must be mentioned that the anti cyber crime must not be for a selected few. All perpetrators must be brought to look, because the constitution is supreme to all.
CONCLUSION
To curb and eventually eradicate cyber crime, adult, children and youth need to be enriched with the “power of distinguishing right from wrong”. All schools should return to the teaching of moral edcuation in order to empower all students with the spirit of steward while we adults live exemplary live, reflecting truth, kindness, dignity of labour and integrity. With all hands on deck, the evil of corruptible act like cyber crime will change for good as:
Its grief Transforms into Gladness
Its trial Translates into Triumph
Its shame Transcends into Fame
Its test travails into testimony.
(Ogunsanya, 2006)
REFERENCES
Babalola B.T.A (2000): Principle of Government and Citizenship Education
GOAD Publication Abeokuta.
Giddens Anthony et al (2005): Introduction to Sociology ww. Norton and
Company Inc New York.
Haralambs and Holborn (2004): Sociology: Themes and Perspective Collins
Books London.
Nwachuckwu Ugbomah (2005): Basic Sociology New Ark Communication.
Lagos.
Shoremi et al (20030: The Science of Society: A Sociological Introduction
CESAP Ago-Iwoye.
Walter Rodney (2005): How Europe Undeveloped Africa Panaf Punlishing Inc.
Abuja.
UNPUBLISHED PAPER
Ajayi Vincent (2006): Sociology of Bribery and Corruption in Nigerian Society
(2006): Paper Presented at Atan JDPC Workshop on Anti-Graft / Anti – Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
Odunuga Segun (2006): Chairman Opening Speech at Atan JDPC Workshop
on Anti-Graft/Anti-Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
Ogunsanya E.A (2006): Paper on Social Implications of Graft in Nigeria Polity:
Christian, Muslim and Traditional Belief (2006): Paper Presented at Atan JDPC Workshop on Anti-Graft / Anti-Corruption Laws for Members of the Civil Society.
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