COVID-19, Cybercrime Proliferation, and National Security in Nigeria: Evidence from Lagos State Youths

Abstract

That security is a public good is an apophthegm. Insecurity in Nigeria has been exacerbated since the COVD-19 pandemic. This is connected to the proliferation of cybercrime among youths which increased exponentially during the pandemic. This study addresses a lacuna in previous studies by investigating COVID-19 and cybercrime proliferation, cybercrime occasioned by COVID-19, and national security in Nigeria within the frameworks of the human security and routine activity theories. This study adopts a quantitative approach that uses structured questionnaires and interviews. Purposive multistage sampling was used to select 200 youth from 10 wards in Ikeja and Badagry local government areas and data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The findings showed that COVID-19 had a significant relationship with cybercrime proliferation and cybercrime occasioned by COVID-19 significantly affected national security in Nigeria. The increased number of computer users during the pandemic enabled some users to exploit others amid poor cybersecurity to commit cybercrime. The article recommends a reorientation of youth to reduce their susceptibility to crime, the development of cybersecurity policies to reduce the availability of suitable targets, and the empowerment of capable guardians such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.