A Catholic religious organisation, Building Bridge Initiative, Nigeria (BBI) has sensitized secondary school students in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State on the dangers of internet fraud popularly known as yahoo yahoo, and other societal ills.
Speaking in Igboeze-South on Friday, Rev. Sr. Titilayo Aduloju, the National Coordinator of the BBI said that the group is using this year’s Valentine Day celebration to discourage the young ones especially student in secondary schools against engaging on internet fraud.
She explained that BBI is a programme of Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network PACTPAN, a community of African scholars and pastoral agents in the Catholic tradition and their ecumenical and inter-religious partners.
Aduloju, who is Sister of St. Michael Archangel and a Lecturer at the Department of Pastoral/Communication Studies, Catholic Institute of West Africa, Portharcourt said that the objective of BBI is to build bridges across religion.
“This is the reason why participating secondary schools here today are not only christian secondary schools but also Islam secondary schools.
“We are using this event to remind young people of many dangers associated with money and wealth obtained from internet and Yahoo
fraud,” she said.
She disclosed that the event was organised by BBI and sponsored by Hon Mark Obetta Foundation. Obetta is the Lawmaker, representing Nsukka/Igboeze-South Federal constituency in National Assembly.
“We are telling students to depend on God given talents to earn their living to be free from any harassments by any security personnel as well as to enable them to sleep at night with two eyes closed.
“As we gather here today we are reminded that education is not just about the classrooms, it is also about developing the human person holistically vis a vis physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, culturally, etc,” she said.
According to her BBI was founded on November 2022 by the Holy Father, Pope Francis to build bridges across faiths.
The coordinator explained that, the event was also being used to educate youths on the real meaning of the feast of St Valentine’s Day that is celebrated globally on every February 14.
In a remark tagged “Beyond Yahoo: Dream Big, Work Bigger,” Hon. Obetta stated that yahoo menace is a plague that has infected the youths and turning them away from the values of hard work, integrity, and principle, and towards the files promise of quick wealth and easy success.
“We once a society that value knowledge, creativity and innovation. people who took pride in our talents, our skills, and our achievements. But today, we have become a society that celebrates wealth above all else. We have become a people who idolized those who have made it big regardless of how they got there, and so, we have lost some of the most gifted among us to get-rich-quick-syndrome.
“The Yahoo menace have corrupted every fabrics of our society. It has corrupted our morals, our values, and our principles. It has turned us into a society of people who are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead, regardless of the cost.
“I urge you to set genuine goals for yourself, set goals that are built on principle, on integrity, and on hard work. Don’t be tempted by the false promise of yahoo menace. Don’t be tempted by the quick fixes, the easy solutions, and the gate-rich-quick scheme. Instead, choose the path of principle, of integrity, and of hard work,” he said.
Obetta, who was represented by Dr. Obiora Ekwueme, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theatre and film Studies Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka assured that his foundation will continue to support BBI activities in the area to ensure that they covered all the schools under the constituency.
Earlier in a remark, Rev. Fr. James Obigbo, National Head of the Core Group, BBI, and the Assistant Parish Priest St. Mary’s Catholic Parish Ibagwa-Aka said that the BBI target is to use the Valentine celebration to bring youths together who are soldiers of Christ in the social media.
“We target to get our youths early enough, especially those in the secondary Schools. So, today we organized Valentine feast for them to educate them on the dangers in engaging into internet fraud, as well as to organize series of activities and competitions to discover talents among them so that we can give them encouragement and push them up for a better life,” he said.
The event which featured Got Talent Shows, Quiz, Lectures, Dancing, words Spelling and Singing competitions had winners from each of the competition smiling home with lots of gift ranging from solar inverter, Computer Set, sets of Books, Cash prizes, tuition and scholarships among others
Our Correspondent gathered that, over 30 public and private secondary schools in the area participated in the event.
