Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Highlights Poor Parenting and Pressure as Drivers of Cybercrime

At the 9th Annual Conference of the Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education, held at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Ndele Campus, on Thursday, November 13, 2025, Professor Esther Fomsi, a specialist in Computing and Information Technology, identified poor parenting and parental pressure as key contributors to the rising rate of cybercrime in Nigeria.

Professor Fomsi highlighted unemployment, poverty, intense peer pressure, get-rich-quick schemes, low cyber awareness, and weak law enforcement as additional factors fueling cybercrime. She recounted a troubling case where a mother, dissatisfied with her son's inability to match his peers’ financial success, encouraged him to engage in immoral acts, exemplifying a severe lapse in moral guidance and the role of family in shaping ethical behavior.

Delivering the lead paper titled “Digital Skills Integration for Redirecting Youths’ Cybercrime Activities into Productive Ventures: The Role of Vocational and Technical Education,” Professor Fomsi defined cybercrime as activities involving computers or networked devices that exploit digital opportunities for illegal gain. She noted that Nigeria ranks third globally and first in Africa for cybercrime, with highly skilled youths both perpetrating and falling victim to these crimes.

The specialist detailed the prevalent forms of cybercrime among Nigerian youths, including phishing, cyberbullying, identity theft, hacking, child exploitation, sextortion, fake news dissemination, ransomware attacks, and romance scams. She emphasized that vocational and technical education (TVE) can equip youths with practical, job-ready skills to reduce cybercrime by fostering ethical technology use and providing sustainable employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

With Nigeria’s youth population exceeding 70% and an expected demand for 28 million digital jobs by 2030, Professor Fomsi stressed that current TVE curricula lack digital readiness, limiting their effectiveness. She called for integrating digital skills and artificial intelligence literacy into TVE, along with strategic investment in affordable devices, widespread internet access, and dedicated digital literacy initiatives. She also recommended engaging informal sectors to raise awareness and provide training for youths.

Professor Fomsi urged that TVE should be treated not as a secondary option but as a frontline strategy in combating cybercrime across Nigeria. The Conference Chairperson and Associate Dean, Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education, Professor Anne Asouzu, reinforced this perspective, highlighting vocational training as a pathway to redirect youths’ focus toward education while securing steady income and social productivity.

Dr. Ngozi Okiridu, the Public Relations Officer of IAUE, confirmed that the conference aimed to address societal challenges and provide actionable solutions through vocational and technical education.