Youths’ Negotiation of Livelihoods and Cybercrimes in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines youths‟ negotiation of livelihoods and cybercrimes in
Nigeria. The rising spate of cybercrimes in the country necessitated the need to
look at the nexus between negotiation of livelihoods and cyber crimes. The paper
looked at how negotiation of livelihoods can drive youths into cyber crimes and
ways to improve the livelihood of youths in order to reduce their involvement in
cyber crimes. Relevant literature was reviewed in the study. Two theories were
reviewed and adopted as the theoretical orientation of the study. The theories are
the space transition and the structural strain theories. The study found that
youths negotiation of livelihood is responsible for their involvement in
cybercrimes as they struggle to meet up with the demands of surviving especially
in the urban areas where the standard of living is rising. The major effect of
youths involvement in cyber crimes as the study found is that cyber crime is seen
as a desirable way of livelihood negotiation. The study recommends that jobs
should be provided for the youths through skill acquisition trainings like coding
and web designing to enable them negotiate livelihoods through legitimate
means. The study also recommends that youths who engage in cyber crimes
should be punished by the relevant agencies to serve as deterrence to intending
cyber criminals.