Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has said that Internet scammers also known as ‘Yahoo boys’ are now the role models in Nigeria.
She spoke on Friday at a virtual lecture organised by the Ijaw National Development Group on Friday. The videos of the event were first posted by Jackson Ude, the publisher of Point Blank News.
She said, “The ones that have swag, the Yahoo Yahoo boys as my son would say; those in shorts, are the role models they are looking at. These are the ones that reinforce negative societal norms and values.
“This is a travesty of an unfolding tragedy for us. Why have I spent time talking about fatherless homes and the impact it has on our children? The truth of the matter is that an irresponsible boy tends to become an irresponsible man and it is therefore a vicious cycle. If you plant yam, you cannot harvest plantain.”
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Diezani said there were no shortcuts to progressing in life, adding that only hard work could guarantee success. She said, “There are no shortcuts to working your way up the ladder of life. Progressing in life, in work and relationships – marital or otherwise – is always dependent on consistent effort and hard work.
“As we create more responsible young men, we will generate more responsible fathers which will in turn engender a more sustainable society and build a greater nation of successful Ijaw men and women.”
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Diezani said societal values had collapsed mainly because of weak family bonds caused by broken home, noting that while in some instances, children raised by single parents do well in life, it should not be the norm for children to be brought up by single parents.
The former minister is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for alleged fraud running into billions of dollars. She has been living in the United Kingdom since 2015. The EFCC has made several attempts to extradite her to Nigeria without success.
She was at a time grilled at the Charing Cross Police Station in London. The former minister was interrogated at the station when UK National Crime agency arrested her on suspicions of bribery and money laundering.
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The Westminster magistrate court subsequently granted her bail but seized her passport while she was asked to report at the station at a later date. The court had seized £27, 000 from her, while the agency applied for three separate cash detentions in the names of Diezani, Beatrice Agama (her mother) and Melanie Spencer, a Swiss national.
She was reportedly appointed as a Commissioner for Trade and Investment by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of the Commonwealth of Dominica and handed a diplomatic passport which has helped her to evade prosecution.
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