The head of Nigeria’s premier anti-fraud agency has warned that roughly six in every 10 students at Nigerian universities are engaged in cybercrime, describing the scale of involvement as deeply troubling and a direct threat to the country’s future.
Olanipekun Olukoyede, Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), made the disclosure on Tuesday at the opening of the 8th Biennial Conference of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria (COPSUN), held in Kano. The conference was themed “Unlocking the Potentials of Artificial Intelligence: University Governance, Internationalisation and Rankings.”
“My research in the last one year has shown that about six out of 10 students in our universities are into cybercrime. It is a very disturbing situation,” Olukoyede said.
He said findings from EFCC investigations and field operations confirm widespread undergraduate involvement in internet fraud, with some students allegedly placing lecturers on their payroll to corrupt academic processes. He attributed the crisis partly to structural weaknesses within university administration, including inadequate oversight and poor institutional accountability.
Olukoyede pointed to a major operation in Lagos in December 2024, in which 792 suspects linked to a transnational cybercrime syndicate were arrested, noting that a significant number of those detained were students. Artificial intelligence tools powered the operation and helped expose the sophistication of fraud networks active within and beyond Nigeria’s borders.
He also expressed concern over the growing phenomenon of “Yahoo Plus,” where internet fraud is combined with fetish practices, calling it a dangerous evolution of an already severe problem. He urged university governing councils to tighten internal controls and work more closely with law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies.
The remarks drew immediate pushback. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) condemned the claim, with its National Public Relations Officer Comrade Samson Adeyemi describing it as insensitive and damaging, rejecting what the association characterised as a sweeping generalisation that unfairly tarnishes the majority of law-abiding Nigerian students.
