The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Tuesday that corruption persisted in the country because Nigeria lacked the institutions, systems and processes to prevent it.
Okonjo-Iweala made this known when she spoke on the Topic: “Preventing Leakages in the Nigerian Economy” at the Catholic Caritas Foundation Forum in Abuja.
According to her, the absence of the relevant systems and institutions that will help check corruption has created opportunities for people to engage in the act.
“This thing has been with us and we must crack it. This is not something that started in this country today; but it is something that we must crack.
“Fundamentally, we have to ask ourselves, why has this continued to be a problem; I am convinced that it is because we constantly look at the symptoms and not the cause of the disease.
“The cause of the disease is we don’t have in place the institutions, the systems and the processes to block and prevent it in the first place.
“That’s the only difference between us and the people abroad.”
The minister assured that people would be compelled to do the right thing always if the appropriate systems were in place to block and prevent corruption.
She urged youths in the country to ask the relevant questions that would help tackle corruption in the country.
She said: “This is so important now because of technology and I am a total fan of the use of technology and electronic platforms to block the leakages in this country.
“We must use them the way they are being used in other countries.”
Okonjo-Iweala said that the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMS) had helped to reduce physical movement of cash to make payments and curb corruption.
She said that the Integrated Personnel Payment System had also helped government to remove ghost workers from the system and save money in the process.
She said, “We have been able to weed out about 62,893 ghost workers till date saving N208.7 billion and we have not finished in the system. That is addressing the root cause.”
The minister said that the names of the persons found to be involved in the act had been sent to the ICPC for further action.
OKonjo-Iweala said that through the electronic wallet system introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture, government had been able to reduce corruption in fertilizer distribution in the country.
According to her, 10.5 million farmers have been registered under the system with more than 6 million being able to access the product personally.
This, she said, had contributed to increased food production.
The minister said that with the creation of the Pension Transmission Administration Department as demanded by law, issues with old pension were being handled systematically
She said that 14 people were presently under trial for various pension scams in the country.
Commenting on the outcome of the forensic Audit on the alleged 20 billion dollars missing oil money, she said the ministry had written to the NNPC asking it to remit the amount as directed by the auditors. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Most important, the President himself is a very corrupt man. What do you expect from him?
ReplyDeleteAs a co-ordinating minister, why can't you institute one to prevent such leakages. You have no excuse.
ReplyDeleteThese PDP people won't seize amusing me they said they are fighting corruption and now they are lacking what???
ReplyDeleteMadam minister of finance, we have institutions but the problem is that the institutions do not enforce the processes due to lack of will power from the federal government. Now I know where the tackling of corruption through technology Idea that GEJ is talking about comes from. Please take note that the same technology can be used to increase corruption if the people in charge are corrupt and if there is no enough information security system management. Can we tackle cyber theft? Please let's face the main issue of poor value system, the encouragement of corrupt people by political parties and lack of accountability. What is the government doing to block haemorrhage in the petroleum sector permanently? May history smile on you as a patriot of this great nation if you remain faithful. God bless Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteMadam minister. What we need is implementation or law enforcement by efcc and icpc. The processes are there but they only prosecute unconnected bankers with 120 million naira where the big fraud are left untouched. Technology and database will help with traffic offences and aid constituted institutions but main crux is selective justice. Until media shouted odua gate was not investigated.
ReplyDeleteApart from recovering the money, what has the FG done to people who were ghost workers?
ReplyDeleteSo you now agree money is missing. Nigeria.....who will deliver us from our lying leaders
ReplyDeleteThe FG is destroying Nigeria. The institutions, systems and processes are already in place. However, the FG has failed to implement and enforce the rules. The EFCC and ICPC are now engaged in enforcing minor offences.
ReplyDeleteIf the Ministry of Agriculture introduced the electronic wallet system to fight corruption, what did other ministries introduce to fight corruption?
ReplyDeleteExample 1, how is the Ministry of Works checking the successful implementation of road construction projects.
Example 2, how is the Ministry of Education checking examination malpractices?