Date Published: 02/04/10

EFCC, Microsoft, Employ Music To Fight Cybercrime  

Farida Waziri

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC in partnership with Microsoft has identified music as a veritable tool to tackle the menace of cybercrime in Nigeria.

The partnership has already begun collaboration with some top young Nigerian artistes to pass anti-cybercrime messages to youths across the country. The first leg of the collaboration was unveiled Wednesday February 3 in Abuja where a song entitled ‘Maga No Need Pay’ was presented to stakeholders and the general public.

The presentation of the song was the climax of a two-day pre-summit workshop on the 1 st West African Cybercrime Summit to be hosted by Nigeria later in the year. The song, was composed by Ohimai Godwin Amaize and nine other talented Nigerian artistes.

The other artists include Banky W, MI, Omawumi, Modele, Rooftop MCs, Bez and Wordsmith. The song which is expected to be released into the Nigerian music market soon was developed to discourage youths from engaging in cybercrimes and promote the dignity of labour.

Chairman of EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri commended the artistes for their creativity and expressed the hope that other youths would take a cue from them rather than engage in nefarious activities.

Waziri who was represented by Mr. Bala Sanga, at the event, commended Microsoft for funding the production of the song to counter other songs that seem to glamorize 419 activities. She expressed the hope that deliberations at the pre-summit meeting will minimize cybercrime in Nigeria .

The EFCC boss bemoaned the effect of cybercrimes on the country’s image both at home and abroad. “Cybercrime, and specifically advance fee fraud, aka 419 has done tremendous damage to the image of Nigeria even as the perpetrators now include several other nationals”, she said.

According to her, apart from 419, there are fledgling manifestations of other types of cybercrime in the West Africa sub region. “In an effort to curb the scale of 419 perpetrations and other emerging cybercrimes, the Federal Government is set to establish appropriate legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for the efficient operationalization of the anti-cybercrime agenda in concert with regional and global partners,” she added.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Jummai Umar Ajijola of Citizenship Lead for Microsoft in Anglophone West Africa, said she was impressed with the work of the artistes, stressing that it would go a long way in promoting hard work among the youths.

“The choice of this tactic is premised on the fact that music is very influential in shaping young minds. We are proud of these young artistes who have contributed their time and talents to this project as positive role models,” she said.

Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, which coordinated the project for Microsoft, said “through working with Nigerian youths, demonstrating our creative response and our leadership in tackling cybercrime, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, Microsoft and MISSPIN (Microsoft’s Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria) Ambassadors and all the musicians taking part in this project are helping to transform the cyber-image of Nigeria to reflect a true image of us as a nation where the internet is a safe and secure place to communicate with others, study and do business.”

Amaize, one of MISSPIN youth ambassadors said the song would go a long way in educating the youth on the effect of cybercrime. “We believe prevention is better than cure and in focusing our efforts on ensuring young people understand the negative impact of cybercrime, we are working to prevent the next-generation from making the mistakes of the past. Young people relate to music and the incredible work of the musicians who have taken part in this project shows that combating cybercrime can be fun as well as impactful,” he said.

Some of the dignitaries who witnessed the presentation of the song were experts who participated in the pre-summit workshop. They are drawn from Council of Europe, ECOWAS, European Union in Delegation Nigeria, Europol, French Gendarmerie, Google, Interpol, Microsoft , UK SOCA, UNODC and US Department of Justice. The four day summit – the 1 st West African Cybercrime Summit will be hosted by the EFCC from September 7 to 10, 2010.