Okonjo-Iweala: Nigeria Lacks Institutions, Systems & Processes to Prevent Corruption
Category: Nigerian National News
Minister of Finance, 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,” she said.
The
minister also stated 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.
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.
“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,”
she said.
The minister revealed
that the names of the persons found to be involved in the act had been
sent to the ICPC for further action.
In
addition, she stated 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 on trial for various pension scams in the country.
Commenting
on the outcome of the forensic audit on the alleged $20 billion missing
oil money, the ministry had written to the NNPC asking it to remit the
amount as directed by the auditors.
No comments