A cyber-security specialist, Mr Chidiebere Ihediwa has advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to devise methods of reforming and re-orientating arrested educated online fraudsters (aka Yahoo Boys) to become information technology specialists.

According to him, this strategy is better than allowing them to languish in detention or undergo destructive dissolution.

Ihedinwa, also a  renowned software developer, made the call on Wednesday during an award ceremony in his honour at the Police Officers Mess, GRA Ikeja, Lagos.

Zenith Bank GMD, Jaiz Bank MD not arrested, detained by EFCC

Ihediwa was honoured with a Star Award in Cyber-Security Development and Data Analysis in Nigeria by an online publication, Cornerstone.ng.

According to Ihediwa, knowledge can be categorised into two – positive and negative.

He explained that even if there were many educated young men among the cyber fraudsters, their inherent knowledge was at variance with the ideal positive knowledge needed for societal development.

The Cyber-security specialist pointed out that re-directing the knowledge of the yahoo boys to meaningful venture such as making them IT Specialists will be of great advantage to the nation.

He thanked the management of Cornerstone.ng for bringing him to the lime light through the award.

In his welcome address, representative of Cornerstone.ng Mr Chris Oji, said Ihediwa, who was among nominees for award late last year, was unavoidably absent at the occasion, hence management chose to bestow the honour on him in the new year.

Oji said that Ihediwa rightly deserved the award in view of his outstanding contributions to software development and information technology in Nigeria.

The term “Yahoo Boys” refers to a group of cybercriminals who engage in online fraud, predominantly using email and messaging as their primary means of communication. While their name stems from their early association with Yahoo Mail, their activities have expanded to encompass various other platforms, including social media, dating websites, and online classifieds.