The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, has charged members of the National Youth Service Corps NYSC) across the country to strive to be a new breed of youths by taking ownership of the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes and upholding integrity, discipline and dedication in all they do.
He gave the charge on Thursday, August 13, 2026, while addressing Batch “B” Stream II Corps members at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Ikare-Akoko, Akoko North East Local Government Area, Ondo State.
Delivering a lecture titled, “New Breed Youths as Catalysts for National Development,” through the Deputy Superintendent of the EFCC, DSE Emmanuel Onuminya, Olukoyede described youths as critical stakeholders in the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes, observing that Nigeria’s progress depended largely on the commitment of young people in sanitising the country and resisting corrupt practices.
“It is not enough to see yourselves as youths in today’s Nigeria; you need to see and carry yourselves as new breed youths. A new breed of youth should be angry with the failures of the past and develop strengths for new successes. As new breed youths, decide to be a solution rather than a problem, a builder, not a breaker, a thinker, not a plunderer, a pillar, not an evil caterpillar! Nigeria needs new breed youths who will be catalysts of development and springboards of progress,” he said.
While noting that corruption is the major obstacle to national progress, he stressed that young Nigerians must embrace a new mindset to break away from the longstanding culture of corruption that has hindered the nation’s development.
“Every terror in our land can be traced to corrupt practices. Hunger, diseases, untimely death, banditry, inflation, indebtedness, unemployment and other issues of social dislocation are caused by corruption. New breed youths should not be comfortable with these grim scenarios. You need to be a new breed of youth to pursue a fresh agenda of progress, integrity, development and anti-corruption in every realm. A new breed of youth is hungry for new results, angry with compromises and zealous for transparency. A new breed of youth is willing and serious to interrogate his or her environment and expose shadiness and corruption.
“A new breed of youth is not interested in following the lines of least resistance. He fashions a new route of purpose and gives all it takes to walk in that route. A new breed of youth is the answer to the need for progress in our land. You need to be a new breed of youth to align with the mandate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,” he said.
The EFCC boss further challenged the corps members to see themselves as vanguards of positive change, urging them to be foot soldiers in the collective effort to rid Nigeria of corruption and economic and financial crimes.
He called on them to demonstrate integrity in their personal lives and professional engagements, stressing that the responsibility of building a better Nigeria rests significantly on the choices and actions of the younger generation.
The EFCC’s boss gave the same charge at NYSC Orientation Camp in Girei, Adamawa State.
Represented by Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, CSE Ogolekwu Mary, the Chairman charged the youths to harness their energies into developing the country. At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Nonwa Gbam, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Olukoyede spoke through Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC II, Otagada Sunday Ogar and enjoined corps members to embrace a value-driven life strengthened by patriotic desires to move the nation forward.
Speaking through Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, CSE Nana Fatima Abubakar, in Kaduna at the NYSC Temporary Orientation Camp in Kaduna State, the EFCC Chairman urged corps members to be more committed to the values of integrity and national development, stressing that their choices would determine the direction of the country’s future.
At the NYSC Orientation Camp in Keffi, Nasarawa State and speaking through the Head of Public Affairs Unit, EFCC Abuja Zonal Directorate, CSE Ngoundu Nguetar, Olukoyede enjoined corps members to see corruption as an affront and open war against their possibilities and future, nd they must therefore be brigade commanders and generals tackling the menace of graft.
In Lagos, Abuja, Yenagoa, Maiduguri, Uyo, Benin-City, Ilorin, Makurdi and other locations in Nigeria, the anti-graft czar spoke passionately about the need fo youths’ ownership of the anti-corruption fight and using their intellect and courage to save the nation from the scourge of corrupt practices.
