Yahoo-Yahoo: An immoral ‘Plus’ to our Society, By Odeyinka Oluwatobi
NEWS DIGEST – The observing observer is here again with another observation; I have noticed a trend, seemingly immoral, but unfortunately growing stronger and finding a comfortable seat in our society. “Tobi would never see and not spew”, my friends usually chide but like Iya Tobi would say, “It is not where you speak that you die”. I have held this in me for too long but I think this is the right time to fire some verbal cartridges.
I see them everyday, everywhere; I interact with them; I have them as friends (well, I have many unfriendable friends); I have them as acquaintances; I have them as classmates; and even as Church members. You sure have them around you or may even be one of them, don’t feel crucified brov, I only want to point out a moral decadence in this cherished society of mine.
“awon temi nsase, nwon sase l’oru moju, ki n sa ti l’owo….” That is the song, the very one that motivates them and make them celebrate their easy, stress free criminal activity; Yahoo Yahoo, Wayawaya, science work; whatever the adopted appellation, it is literally known as internet fraud. From the little I heard from my History teachers, which are elderly ones around me (abi did you do History teacher in Primary and secondary school?) internet fraud used to be a felonious offence, the culprits are never proud of it; whatever sounds like the siren of a police van jolted them and made them tremble, it was a clandestine engagement even their relatives must not get to know.
They swindle unsuspecting victims (both foreign and native) of their money, leaving many forever wrecked and caged in the shackles of artificial poverty. You see them ride in the best of cars, rent big houses, and rub their wealth on the faces of their fellow youths who prefer struggle to swindle.
These guys are everywhere and go about with their business as though it is legit. Unlike in the olden days of moral uprightness, these guys no more see their fraudulent business as a crime; they boast about what they do and readily flaunt their fraudulently acquired wares.
You hear such slangs like, “Client ti sanwo” (Client has paid); “Oja to burst”. I only wonder what they sell or the services they render to these clients. Many Nigerian youths are getting involved as unemployment bites harder, but it should not be a justification. Where is the revered stool of morality?
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While I lampoon fraudsters on the ground that they are exhibiting smartness the wrong way; I also accuse their victims of seeking the impossible from these guys. Meanwhile, I have observed this trend for quite some time and its addition mark (+) in our society is lucid. It has taken a more courageous dimension with the concept of ‘Yahoo Plus’, an elevated form of Yahoo Yahoo
Yahoo Plus involves performing various forms of rituals like sleeping in a cemetery, having sex with mad women, eating faeces, etc to brighten the swindlers’ chances of getting his victims hypnotized. Once this is done the victim is guaranteed to keep remitting money from wherever he or she is in the world.
As the Oyinbos get wiser, freeing themselves from the baits of Nigerian Yahoo boys, the boys also get craftier in their arithmetic, catching more clients with the Plus. The plus makes the work easier; fetches them more money; and entice potential fraudsters.
Our society has no doubt been negatively affected by this unfortunate and immoral ‘plus’. I make bold to say three out of 10 youths are involved in internet fraud; many even boast over their dexterity in making clients pay. How more morally corrupt can a society be? I recently observed that the number of vehicles in my school has increased drastically and the students’ community seems to be the most blessed in this harvest anniversary.
We seem to have lost our values of hard work and perseverance; our values of moral uprightness and fear of God. A Yoruba adage says, “agba kii wa l’oja k’ori omo titun wo” but verily verily I say onto you, the elders are watching the younger generation go astray, and even joining them in the naked dance of shame, do they not practice democratic Yahoo of money sharing in the chambers?
The society has lost all manner of moral values with the get rich quick syndrome nurtured by majority of Youths; while Buhari’s people in the North East want to sit at home and share oil money like the President alleged, our people in the South sit before their laptops, strike some buttons and smile to the bank. Perhaps, Yahoo boys are not as lazy as their counterparts in the North, they are waiting for Oyinbos’ money and not Oil money. Well, Buhari’s claim of #LazyNigerianYouth is over flogged and for the sake of this article, I wouldn’t want to meddle into it.
There is need for the younger generation to go back to the drawing board, because clearly we have abandoned the right path for a bushy one; we have lost our values and sanity in the quest for wealth and affluent; the older generation has set a precedence not worthy of emulation; but I am sure that the wrongs can be corrected definitely not by them but by us. Shun Yahoo-Yahoo and pick up something legitimate to do, something to be proud of; something that glorifies morality and societal values; something productive, tasking, and creatively engaging. Posterity will applaud us and history will smile on us, provided we do it right.
Oluwatobi Odeyinka is a mass communication student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.
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