By Vera Chinonso Aliyu and Ada Obeleagu, YeyeNews.com, December 8, 2021
Nigerians have expressed outrage over an award ceremony organized to “recognize outstanding Yahoo boys”. The event which was held at an high end hotel in Abuja provided the organizers the platform to announce the “30 Richest Yahoo Boys In Nigeria”. Sources present at the ceremony told YeyeNews.com that it was characterized by glitz and glamour.
“Many important dignitaries were present at the ceremony including top government functionaries. The highpoint was the announcement of the list of the thirty biggest Yahoo boys in the country. Though the list was compiled with pseudo names but everyone in the hall knew who was who”, a source recounted.
Another source told YeyeNews.com that the event was the first of its kind in Nigeria and the organizers hope to make it a yearly event. “Yahoo is a major industry in this country, with many important players. Other fields of endeavor have one way or the other of celebrating their outstanding members. The organizers think the Yahoo industry should not be an exception. So, that is why they started the award series to recognize the contribution of great men and women towards the growth and development of the field right from its early days”, the source said.
But the event has generated outrage in many quarters. One resident of Abuja described it as “bold and daring”. He wondered how such open celebration of fraud will take place in the nation’s center of power without any response from the government or its law enforcement agents. But a social media user said that “it is not a surprise that Yahoo boys took their award ceremony to Abuja. That city is the Las Vegas of sort for corruption”.
The EFCC did not respond to our queries at the time of filing this report.
