The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has urged members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to take ownership of the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.
Olukoyede made the call on Thursday, while addressing Batch B Stream II corps members at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Ikare-Akoko, Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The EFCC chairman, who spoke through Deputy Superintendent of the EFCC, Emmanuel Onuminya, delivered a lecture titled: “New Breed Youths as Catalysts for National Development.”
He urged the corps members to become “new breed youths” committed to integrity, discipline, patriotism and national development.
According to him, Nigeria’s progress largely depends on the willingness of young people to reject corrupt practices and contribute positively to society.
“It is not enough to see yourselves as youths in today’s Nigeria; you need to see and carry yourselves as new breed youths,” Olukoyede said.
He urged them to become solution providers rather than contributors to the country’s problems.
“A new breed of youth should be angry with the failures of the past and develop strengths for new successes.
“As new breed youths, decide to be a solution rather than a problem, a builder, not a breaker, a thinker, not a plunderer, a pillar, not an evil caterpillar.
“Nigeria needs new breed youths who will be catalysts of development and springboards of progress,” he said.
Olukoyede described corruption as a major obstacle to Nigeria’s development, urging young Nigerians to adopt a new mindset capable of breaking the cycle of corrupt practices.
He linked corruption to several challenges confronting the country, including hunger, disease, unemployment, inflation, banditry, indebtedness and other forms of social dislocation.
“New breed youths should not be comfortable with these grim scenarios. You need to be a new breed of youth to pursue a fresh agenda of progress, integrity, development and anti-corruption in every realm,” he said.
The EFCC boss further urged corps members to challenge corruption wherever they encountered it and expose acts of wrongdoing.
“A new breed of youth is hungry for new results, angry with compromises and zealous for transparency.
“A new breed youth is willing and serious to interrogate his or her environment and expose shadiness and corruption,” he added.
Olukoyede said young Nigerians must reject the “lines of least resistance” and instead pursue purposeful paths that would contribute to national development.
He challenged the corps members to become vanguards of positive change and “foot soldiers” in the collective effort to rid the country of corruption and economic and financial crimes.
The EFCC chairman also urged them to demonstrate integrity in their personal and professional lives, stressing that the future of Nigeria would be significantly shaped by the choices and actions of its younger generation.
Olukoyede delivered similar messages to corps members at NYSC orientation camps across the country.
At the Girei orientation camp in Adamawa State, he spoke through Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, Mary Ogolekwu, urging the youths to channel their energy towards national development.
In Rivers State, the EFCC chairman, represented by Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC II, Otagada Sunday Ogar, addressed corps members at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Nonwa Gbam, Tai Local Government Area.
He urged them to embrace value-driven lives anchored on patriotism and commitment to moving the country forward.
Similarly, at the NYSC Temporary Orientation Camp in Kaduna State, Olukoyede, through Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, Nana Fatima Abubakar, urged corps members to remain committed to integrity and national development.
He said their choices would ultimately influence the direction of Nigeria’s future.
Read also:
- Olukoyede Urges Corps Members To Lead Anti-Corruption Fight, Shun Internet Fraud
- Sports can help reduce internet fraud among youths — Olukoyede
- How EFCC blocked use of fake Transmission materials in power project – Olukoyede
At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Keffi, Nasarawa State, the EFCC chairman, represented by the Head of Public Affairs Unit, Abuja Zonal Directorate, Chief Superintendent Ngoundu Nguetar, described corruption as an affront to the possibilities and future of young Nigerians.
He urged the corps members to position themselves as “brigade commanders and generals” in the fight against graft.
Olukoyede also delivered similar anti-corruption messages to corps members in Lagos, Abuja, Yenagoa, Maiduguri, Uyo, Benin City, Ilorin, Makurdi and other locations across the country.
The EFCC chairman maintained that Nigerian youths must take ownership of the anti-corruption campaign and deploy their intellect, courage and integrity to protect the country from the consequences of corrupt practices.
