The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has attributed the rising involvement of Nigerian youths in financial crimes to parenting failures and neglect within the family unit.

Speaking in Kaduna on Friday, September 19, 2025, at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Olukoyede, represented by the Acting Director of the Kaduna Zonal Directorate, Assistant Commander of the EFCC (ACE I) Bawa Usman Kaltungo, warned that family neglect has dire consequences, exposing young people to economic and financial crimes.

He noted that neglect often stems from poverty, ignorance, abdication of responsibility, and substance abuse, which manifest in the failure of families to provide emotional, psychological, and material support to children.

“The nexus between family dysfunction and youth criminality calls for a multi-dimensional approach, both in diagnosing the negative outcomes and in administering the required remedies,” he said. According to him, family support systems, mentorship, and youth development programmes such as sports could help channel young people’s energies into more productive ventures.

Olukoyede expressed concern that some tertiary institution students arrested for internet fraud often cite financial hardship and lack of family support as justification for their involvement in cybercrime.

He commended the Federal Government’s intervention through the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund), seeded with N50 billion recovered proceeds of crime by the EFCC, describing it as a timely measure to reduce students’ financial pressures and deter them from illicit activities.

Highlighting EFCC’s preventive and reorientation programmes, he listed the EFCC Integrity Club for primary and secondary schools, the Zero Tolerance Club for tertiary institutions, the EFCC/NYSC CDS Group for corps members, and the Commission’s National Cybercrime Summit as initiatives targeted at shielding young people from financial and economic crimes.

Poor parenting, family neglect responsible for financial crimes among youths – EFCC boss, Olukoyede