INVOLVEMENT IN YAHOO-YAHOO AND LEARNING OUTCOMES AMONG STUDENTS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION SOUTH WESTERN, NIGERIA

Abstract

Yahoo-Yahoo, a short-cut to acquire wealth through dubious means has become a real problem not only among the students in Nigerian higher institutions but the entire nation and students in Colleges of Education cannot be totally exempted from this menace. This study examined the effectiveness of two intervention strategies: Yahoo Crime Risk Intervention Scale (YCRIS) and Religious Counselling Treatment (RCT) on Colleges of Education students’ involvement in Yahoo-Yahoo. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design with 650 respondents (students) from five Colleges of Education across South Western Nigeria. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and interventions, (YCRIS) group scored (?² = 0.618), indicating that 61.8% while (RCT) accounted for a 48.3% reduction (?² = 0.483) and male students showed higher involvement in Yahoo-Yahoo (mean = 80.00) compared to female students (mean = 61.64), with an effect size of ?² = 0.72, suggesting that gender accounted for 72% of the variance in cybercrime engagement. However, religious affiliation had no significant effect on involvement (p > 0.05, ?² = 0.04)in Yahoo-yahoo, while intervention programmes proved effective, addressing the root causes was essential for long-term solutions. The study recommended integrating financial literacy, cyber-ethics education, and mentorship programmes into Nigeria’s educational curriculum to mitigate cyber fraud among students.