By Nkechi Eze
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has charged members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to take ownership of Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight by embracing integrity, rejecting all forms of dishonesty, and committing themselves to upright living and nation-building.
Olukoyede gave the charge while addressing Batch “A” Stream I corps members at various NYSC Orientation Camps across the country, beginning with the Kubwa Orientation Camp in Abuja on Thursday, 29 January 2026.
In an official statement signed by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the EFCC boss, who was represented in Abuja by Superintendent of the EFCC, SE Johnson Oloyede, delivered a lecture titled “The Role of Youth in the Anti-Corruption Fight,” where he described young Nigerians as indispensable stakeholders in the battle against economic and financial crimes.
“One critical group of stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight is the youth. Beyond being the leaders of tomorrow, many economic crimes, especially cybercrimes, are committed by young people. I encourage you to take ownership of the fight against corruption,” he said.
He challenged the corps members to see themselves as vanguards of positive change and “foot soldiers” in the collective effort to rid Nigeria of corruption and economic crimes.
“It is not enough to see yourselves as youths in today’s Nigeria; you need to see and carry yourselves as new breed youths. A new breed youth should be angry with the failures of the past and develop strengths for new successes. Decide to be a solution rather than a problem, a builder and not a breaker, a thinker and not a plunderer. Nigeria needs new breed youths who will be catalysts of development and springboards of progress,” he added.
At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, Olukoyede urged corps members to design their own unique pathways to national development by forming pressure groups against corruption or aligning with organisations and initiatives that promote financial integrity.
Represented by Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE II Babatunde Sulaiman, Head, Public Affairs Department, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, he encouraged corps members to identify with groups that support the EFCC’s mandate and to consider joining the EFCC–Community Development Group, which works closely with the Commission to advance its values and objectives.
“You can also align with those defending the EFCC against its detractors. There are roles to play if only you choose a positive path. Through the EFCC-Community Development Group, you get to know more about the Commission and its work,” he said.
In Yobe State, at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Nangere, Olukoyede, represented by the Maiduguri Zonal Director, Commander of the EFCC, CE Aisha A. T. Habib, tasked corps members to become whistleblowers by exposing corrupt practices within their environments.
“Exposing corruption is not only obligatory; it is also patriotic. The EFCC is relying on you to always expose shady deals around you. You can conveniently do this through the Eagle Eye App, a digital application for reporting corruption,” he said.
He stressed that the corps members were at a defining moment in their lives, where they must choose whether to be “light-bearers or light-breakers, burdens to be lifted or burden-lifters, contributors to progress or destroyers of national gains.”
Similarly, in Rivers State, at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Nonwa-Gbam, Port Harcourt, the EFCC Chairman urged corps members to build new national strengths in areas where Nigeria has previously fallen short.
“With our immense natural and human resources, our nation is still struggling to find its feet among developed nations. This should challenge you into new resolutions of progress. You must seek good success for our nation where it has failed in the past,” he said.
In Kaduna State, Olukoyede, represented by Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, CSE Nana Abubakar of the Public Affairs Department, Kaduna Zonal Directorate, warned that unemployment must never be used as a justification for criminality, stressing that cybercrime is not a solution to economic hardship.
He encouraged corps members to use their Community Development Service (CDS) platforms to campaign against youth involvement in internet fraud and other economic crimes.
The EFCC Chairman gave similar messages in Uyo, Ibadan, Gombe, Enugu, Ilorin, and several other NYSC orientation camps nationwide, reaffirming the Commission’s resolve to mobilise Nigerian youths as frontline partners in the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes.
