The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has urged members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) across the country to position themselves as catalysts for national development by embracing integrity, patriotism and active participation in the fight against corruption.
Olukoyede made the call on Thursday, while addressing 2026 Batch B Stream I corps members at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Okada, Edo State.
Represented by the Head of Public Affairs Department of the EFCC’s Benin Zonal Directorate, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Williams Oseghale, the anti-graft agency boss challenged the corps members to see themselves as a new generation of leaders capable of driving positive change and contributing meaningfully to national development.
According to him, the youths must rise above the failures of the past and embrace the responsibility of building a better future.
“There comes a time in the life of every individual when such decisions are imperative and you have come to such a season.
“It is not enough to see yourselves as youths in today’s Nigeria; you need to see and carry yourselves as new breed youths.
“A new breed youth should be angry with the failures of the past and develop strengths for success. As new breed youths, decide to be a solution rather than a problem, a builder and not a breaker,” he said.
Olukoyede stressed that corruption remains a major obstacle to the nation’s development, warning that young Nigerians must reject all forms of corrupt practices if they are to become genuine agents of change.
“Corruption has been the bane of our development. It has been a stain on our national image, a clog on the wheel of our development and a threat to our collective future,” he said.
At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Issele-Uku, Delta State, Superintendent of the EFCC, Mohammed Chuwang, who represented the chairman, warned corps members against involvement in internet fraud and other criminal activities.
He urged them to embrace creativity, innovation and legitimate means of livelihood.
“Don’t follow the multitude to do evil. Be creative, innovative, enterprising and resourceful,” Chuwang advised.
In Lagos, Olukoyede charged corps members at the Iyana Ipaja Orientation Camp to take ownership of the anti-corruption campaign by serving as whistleblowers and participating in public enlightenment efforts.
Represented by the Head of Public Affairs Department, EFCC Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Babatunde Suliaman, the chairman encouraged the youths to expose corrupt practices in their places of primary assignment and communities.
He also highlighted the EFCC’s Eagle Eye App as a secure platform through which corruption cases can be reported anonymously.
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“Another way of being a new breed youth is to be a whistleblower. Exposing corrupt practices around you is not only obligatory, it is also patriotic.
“The EFCC is relying on you to always expose shady deals in your environments,” he said.
In Rivers State, Olukoyede, represented by the Head of Public Affairs Department, Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate, Akpos Mezeh-Ekisowei, cautioned corps members at the NYSC camp in Nonwa-Gbam, Tai Local Government Area, against cybercrime and other fraudulent activities.
He warned that internet fraud and related offences were detrimental to the future of young Nigerians, urging them to pursue legitimate opportunities instead.
“No serious-minded and future-building youth will sit and allow his or her future to be mortgaged through internet fraud, fraudulent engagement and other related offences which are pervasive among the youths,” he said.
Similarly, at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Olukoyede, represented by the Head of Public Affairs Department of the Enugu Zonal Directorate, Superintendent Paul Ikpor, warned corps members against fraudulent activities and other anti-social behaviours.
He noted that corruption contributes significantly to social and economic challenges, including unemployment, inflation, insecurity, poverty and indebtedness.
The anti-corruption message was also delivered to corps members at orientation camps in Kano, Ibadan, Maiduguri, Uyo, Ilorin, Abuja, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Makurdi, Ado-Ekiti and Sokoto, as the EFCC intensified efforts to mobilise young Nigerians in support of the campaign against corruption nationwide.
