Former presidential candidate and African Democratic Congress chieftain, Peter Obi, has blamed the students’ involvement in internet fraud on moral and systemic collapse in the country.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Obi said, “Nigeria already has a very limited number of students in higher institutions, estimated at 2 to 2.5 million. If indeed about 60% of them, roughly 1.4 million young people, are involved in fraud, then we are not just facing a crime issue; we are confronting a serious moral and systemic failure.”

On Tuesday, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, said that about 60 per cent of Nigerian university students were involved in internet fraud.

Mr Olukoyede noted that many of the suspects arrested recently were undergraduates, adding that some of them also compromised academic standards by placing lecturers on their payrolls.

Mr Obi described the situation as troubling.

“We must understand that young people become what they consistently see. When a system appears to reward wrongdoing, when integrity is not upheld, and when those in leadership are associated with allegations of forgery and dishonesty without consequence, it sends a dangerous message.

“It suggests that hard work does not matter, and that results, by any means, are acceptable. These points clearly point to a collapse of moral values,” he added.

Mr Obi stressed the need for integrity in governance and public life, insisting Nigeria must rebuild its value system and create an environment that rewards honesty, discipline and hard work.

“This is not about condemning our young people. It is about accepting that leadership sets the tone. If we do not demonstrate integrity at the top, we cannot expect it at the bottom. 

“We must urgently rebuild our value system, enforce accountability without bias, and create an environment where honesty, hard work, and discipline are rewarded. That is the only sustainable path to securing the future of our nation,” the politician said.