Yahooism and the future of the Nigerian youth
By DENNIS ALEMU
THERE is a popular Jewish adage that says: “An unjust society always has within it the seeds of its own destruction.”
The wisdom in this adage can be juxtaposed in the avalanche of get-rich-quick schemes springing up in the country, and which continue to enjoy unprecedented patronage and appeal among Nigerians, especially the youth. Prefaced by the syndrome of rent-seeking among Nigerians, through the instrumentality of the deeply entrenched culture of corruption in public offices, get-rich-quick schemes have fraudulently enriched a few individuals, while leaving thousands reeling in financial crises and pains.
However, with the astronomical growth and penetration of the Internet and ICT in Nigeria, coupled with the Android revolution, Yahooism has become the modern face of the get-rich-quick schemes in the country.
Yahooism, a derivative of the web search engine, Yahoo, is arguably much more than just a get-rich-quick scheme, but a growing social movement that incorporates ICT and online banking protocols to defraud private individuals and corporate entities running into millions in most cases.The practitioners of Yahooism, popularly termed Yahoo Boys, live large and form the emergent and growing class of young millionaires in Nigeria in the last couple of years.
However, many financial experts have opined that the unjustified layoffs in the Nigerian banking industry had been a contributing factor to the Yahooism movement in Nigeria. They have also blamed government at all levels to have not done enough for the youths of Nigeria, in the areas of employment and job creation, economic empowerment, and the creation of a conducive business ecosystem for young entrepreneurs to succeed in various enterprises.
For a country with an estimated 200 million people, unemployment among young graduates is dangerously high, thus providing canon fodder for prostitution, armed robbery, Yahooism, and the like.
While the majority of Nigerians have castigated Yahooism as repugnant and evil, some justify it on the grounds that those who use public offices in Nigeria to steal billions of public funds meant for providing jobs for the youths are worse evil than the so-called Yahoo Boys they condemn everyday.
More still, it is reported that some parents whose children had joined this digital fraternity have openly defended Yahooism as a means of survival in a Nigerian economy that has simply become hellish for the common man to eke out a living, while the political class openly swims in the ocean of state wealth.
Against this backdrop, it is very self-evident that Yahooism has come to stay in Nigeria, as long as the ills of governance that triggered its emergence are not decisively dealt with.
For the proponents of Yahooism, it is a necessary evil which puts food on the table; and a veritable vehicle for economic survival in a nation whose economy is nothing short of a jungle where only the strong can survive.
The foregoing notwithstanding, the criminal trappings of Yahooism cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.
It is on record that many elderly citizens have lost their lives to the menace of Yahooism when their accounts were hacked and funds were ruthlessly siphoned.
Moreover, the burgeoning Yahoo Boys community is reportedly eyebrows deep in rituals and other unwholesome activities that make their trade a macabre one, and a threat to peace, and security of lives and property.
Therefore, to stem the ever rising tide of the Yahooism phenomenon in Nigeria, the Federal Government must as a national policy recalibrate its youth development agenda, to productively engage the youths and redirect their energies to positive and worthwhile ventures.
Secondly, government at all levels should pursue massive job creation in agriculture, the bureaucracy, oil and gas, education, ICT, and scaled-up industrialisation in key sectors.
It is also needful for the Nigerian banking system to be strengthened and fortified against rampant cases of bank frauds traceable to the activities of Yahoo Boys.
More importantly, the signature of corruption and bad governance that inevitably gave birth to Yahooism in Nigeria in the first place should be comprehensively and decisively addressed. Clamping down on the Yahoo Boys to stamp out their nefarious activities can actually help cut off its spreading tentacles, but it cannot offer lasting solution.
As a matter of fact, government as an institution cannot successfully fight against criminality when its key officials are neck-deep in the crime of corruption; after all, those who live in glass houses are not expected to throw stones anyhow.
As it were, Yahooism presents a bait that seems too attractive for the large army of unemployed Nigerian youths to resist, even as economic hardship bites deeper and harder in the land. The bitter truth must be told.
The obvious implication of this is that it is now quite imperative for very decisive steps to be taken to exterminate Yahooism.
Of course, Yahooism can be checkmated.
Nonetheless, with the current state of the Nigerian economy, it would literally take a miracle for Yahooism to go into oblivion that soon.
