Delta —A Nigerian police officer has raised concerns over the growing involvement of secondary school students in cybercrime and the possession and alleged distribution of sexually explicit material involving their classmates.

The officer, CSP Setemi Agbede-Zuokumor, made the disclosure while recounting an outreach conducted by her team at a secondary school in Delta State.

According to her account, officers seized several mobile phones from students suspected of engaging in fraudulent activities and accessing pornography while in school.

Among the devices reportedly seized were iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, as well as Samsung smartphones.

The officer said the investigation took a more disturbing turn after one male student unlocked his phone for the officers.

According to Agbede-Zuokumor, officers allegedly discovered several intimate videos and photographs involving female students from the boy’s class on the device.

“After we went to the school and seized the secondary school students’ phones, one of the students unlocked his phone, and we found almost nude videos of his female classmates,” she said.

She alleged that the student claimed the videos were being sold.

The officer further claimed that the student had more than 85 foreign phone numbers, including Australian numbers, which he allegedly used in online fraudulent activities.

She said the student was allegedly using photographs of white or foreign-looking individuals, commonly referred to as “oyibo faces”, as part of the scheme to deceive people online.

Nude videos sold for half a million Naira

According to the officer, the student also allegedly had the intimate images and videos of female classmates on the same device and was reportedly selling them for as much as ₦500,000.

She added that the boy reportedly told officers that the female students had asked him to sell the material on their behalf.

The allegations have raised serious concerns over the exposure of children to cybercrime, pornography and the non-consensual circulation of intimate material among young people.

Students background

The officer also expressed concern over the type of smartphones being used by some of the students, noting that many of those whose phones were seized reportedly possessed expensive devices despite coming from families engaged in small-scale businesses.

“Most of these students are using iPhone 15 and 16, while their parents are petty business owners,” she said.

She described the situation as troubling and warned of the potential consequences for young people becoming involved in cybercrime and other harmful online activities at an early age.

The officer further disclosed that some parents later visited her office seeking the return of the seized devices.

“It’s sad to see that their parents came to my office to collect back the destruction of this generation,” she said.

The allegations also highlight concerns about the protection of minors from the creation, possession and distribution of sexual images, particularly where the individuals depicted are fellow students.

Beyond the alleged cybercrime activities, the reported discovery of intimate material involving classmates raises serious questions about consent, privacy, exploitation and the safety of students in the digital age.

However, the allegations made by the police officer have not, from the information available, been independently verified, and the identities of the students and school involved have not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, the reported incident has nonetheless renewed calls for parents, schools and law-enforcement agencies to pay greater attention to children’s online activities and provide appropriate digital-safety education.

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