Cybercrime: it's attendant effect on the populace and the global reputation of Nigeria.

Cybercrime is one out of the many crimes perpetrated in the world today. The world today is so bedevilled by this crime that it has eaten into the rubric of the society that everyday people fall prey to the antics of those who perpetrate it. Across the world for years, crime and Intelligence Agencies have been set up to tackle cybercrime and arrest offenders who partake in it. Some of the agencies among others are viz: the CIA, FBI, Interpol, and the Nigerian EFCC which is saddled with the responsibility to tackle assiduously crime in the country. Legislations have also been made stipulating penalties for those who indulge in cybercrime. Some of the legislations include Section 419 of the Criminal Code Act, the Advance Fee Fraud Act, amongst other legislations both nationally and internationally.

Cybercrime, popularly known as "Yahoo Yahoo" or "Yahoo" in the local parlance didn't just start today. It has been since the inception of electronical technology in the world. Though cybercrime is a fraud, cybercrime is an electronical-based type of fraud. Whereas the latter can be perpetrated without any electronical-based type of system, the former has to. Cybercrime most time has to do with both national and international reach. A large chunk of their victims are mostly international of which they can fiddle and make hard currencies from.

In Nigeria, the country has constantly for years been beleaguered by cybercrime and fraud in generality right from the time of the popular '419' in the 1990s to this very time. Nigeria during the course of years have sat comfortably in ranking among the first-two cybercrime countries in the world. The advancement in technology has further helped exacerbate matter helping in grow in it's techniques and proficiency. Today, a considerable chunk of Nigerians most especially youths indulge or play the game of "Yahoo" — Cybercrime, in sheer amorality. It has become so prevalent more especially among the youths that even young persons of 17-10 years of age unbelievably have joined the league. Cybercrime has also taken a new toll in Nigeria with some going diabolical and doing some other dastard acts in order to boost their earnings.

Be that as it may, cybercrime do come with its positive and negative attendant effects on the society. Albeit, those who indulge in cybercrime make pretty cool amount of money from cybercrime especially if they are very smart and are able to outwit their victims and hoodwink them off their monies. But however, the negative effect seemingly outweighs the positive effect.

Amongst the many negative effect, one of it is the high level of amorality among the citizenry. The society has unbelievably sang the songs of those who indulge in cybercrime without recourse to what is right and moral out of sheer pecuniary gains. A considerable percentage od Nigerians especially amongst the youths don't see anything wrong in it and everyday persons join this league. This has led to a high level of immorality and other dastard acts.

Cybercrime has also led to other heinous crimes like abductions, robberies, rituals, killings, among others. One may ask how can cybercrime lead to these? Yes, very true, it leads to these. Those who indulge in "Yahoo" no mincing words, some of them make good cash out of it and they flaunt this riches online with the flashy cars, houses, designer clothes and what have you. This 'wealth' has pushed a lot of youths into cybercrime all in a bid to have a cut of the cake of cybercrime. Some greedy ones also in a bid to live the "big boy life" go into rituals, robbery, kidnapping and other heinous crimes to augment their money. This is one major reason crime is on the high in the country.

Rape is also one of the negative effect of cybercrime(Yahoo) in the country. Just  recently, we have had litany of rape cases across tbe country with Uwa's case the popular of them all. It is believed by a considerable number of people that the high rate in rape of recent may be borne out of ritualism. Most of the people perpetrating these rapings and killings "may" be people influenced by the "big boy life" of these cybercrime boys who flaunt their wealth online. In a bid to live up to that "big boy life", they go into raping and killings.

One major negative effect of cybercrime in Nigeria is in her global reputation. Cybercrime had tainted the global reputation of Nigeria across tbe years that most countries cannot trust Nigerians again. Nigeria has lost its trustworthiness in the hearts of many nations and this effect seems to be the major and fatal of them all as it has robbed and still robs Nigeria and it's citizenry a lot of things. Just two or three weeks ago, a popular Nigerian "cybercrime perpetrator" was apprehended by the FBI in conjunction with Interpol in Dubai over allegedly hacking and taking millions of dollars from the US government. Last year also, a vibrant young boy who was named among Forbes Under-30 CEO's was arrested alongside 80 other Nigerians for cybercrime. Not quite long from the arrest of the popular "online big boy" in Dubai, 6 other Nigerians were nabbed in the US for the same cybercrime fraud. These cases are few amongst the various Nigerians nabbed across the world and frankly speaking, it is tainting the already tainted reputation of Nigeria across the globe. Most countries don't trust Nigerians again, and even if they try to do, it's with great suspicion. In the 1950s and 60s, Nigerians could travel to England and some other countries without needing Visa but now it's no more. Why? Our criminal nature allowed for it. At the beginning of the year or thereabout, US president Donald Trump blacklisted Nigeria among it's visa countries. Why? The same criminal nature. Whereas, this year, the US listed Nigeria's neighboring country, Ghana and some African countries among it's visa-free countries. What does it prove to tell? That the outside world are more at home with other African countries than Nigeria due to their less hand in crime. The recent apprehension of Nigerian cybercrime perpetrators has further tainted the global reputation of Nigeria.

Be that as it may, what is the cause of this malaise— cybercrime, that has tainted tbe overall global reputation of Nigeria and led to several other heinous crimes in the society? If identifiable, what could be the panacea to this beleaguering malaise in order to salvage the remains of Nigeria's global reputation? Could the problem be the bad governance over the time, or just the immoral nature of Nigerians? Can further stricter legislations be the panacea? These are questions begging for answers.