As we all know, prevention is much better than cure.

This administration is brand new and so far they're doing pretty fine.
On the other hand, corruption continues to be our number one problem in Nigeria and it is clear and extremly  conclusive that this same problem could be the down fall of this current administration if special attention is not dedicated to this deadly epidemic.

Hence, I've decided to post this new topic and allow Nigerians to display their sense of creativeness and unique strategies to prevent these bastards from taking us for another long ride once again.
What are your recommendations to prevent government officials from stealing our money?

FYI: info from this forum are getting to the right folks, therefore do not hesitate to bring it on if you have bright ideas.
(MAMAJAMA is not allowed to post any comment on this thread till his old man gets himself together)

One love!

What are your recommendations to prevent government officials from stealing our money?

by preventing them from being in govt in the first place. dont allow them to contest election

What about the new ones with hot mission?

then cure is the only solution this time, those with dodgy backgrounds should be marked closely assign about 10 efcc officials to their states breathing down their necks and the senators should debate immunity

1. Government official positions must be made unattractive

2. Government should introduce higher standard qualifications and requirements for these positions.

3. Government official position should be one and only job  for these folks. We do not need a business man that has 5 businesses and also has governor position. We need dedicated people, not a CEO who is looking for a part time job.

4. Government officials and their families should be forced to utilize our resources. No more flying to Germany for stomach pain, no more using our money to send Emeka, Tunde, Teju and Godwin to United States to attend school.

Government officials must send their kids to government schools (in their state!)

@Topic
By setting standards and goals to be achieved on a yearly basis!  If any official is found wanting in any area of operation---there should be consequences and a few scape goats dealt with including jail time.  This way the others can sit up!  This new admin should not wait till after 4 years to supervise or probe government officials.  Not that "toothless" bull dog---EFCC! Probing should be based on continous assessment of government functionaries every 6 months!---By independent agencies!

All contracts awarded should be appraised by independent agencies to screen for substandard materials and inflation of costs!  We are tired of contracts executed with substandard materials, especially in areas of building and transportation!

The root cause of corruption must be tackled.

You will be surprise to note that insecurity and poverty is the major cause. The other cause on the other end of the scale is greed 'monies for oppression'.

If you notice people who are in politics or power, have 'close constituents'- their area boys, their stelwart etc.

Then there is family and friends social security support.

I don't know much about UMY (yar adua) but I certaintly think that he need to be more stern and address the nation once a month and set out vision and explain time table and on monthly basis show evidence that progress is being made.

At the end of the day, we need a Tribal and religious understanding, tolerance and love.

I for one think majority of the people from the east, the Ibos are bitter for a good reason emanating from Biafra and cannot forgive and move on from there.

As long as things like that persist For them to lead ONE NIGERIA is impossible, then we are simply deceiving ourselves. Quite frankly majority of IBO's and to some extent some Yoruba always clamour for Break up of the country when they are less favoured instead of arguing their position

UMY need to be bold and stop having fear about the 'flaws' in the election or selection that put him in office.He knew Nigeria and especially his PDP aren't perfect but he accepted to lead them and consequently Nigeria.

he should get on with the work constantly reminding himself of what legacy his govt will leave behind in 4-8 years.

Whether or not you like OBJ he has left some good legacy. One, he has handed power once as a military leader, and as a civilian leader and on both ocassion to the other part of the country, he could have been sectional or tribalistic handing over to Yoruba or in this occassion the rightful people the South SOuth or South EAst.

Secondly he had fix mobile phone, the Econmy- the first Nigerian leader if not African that has paid off national debts and therefore gave the country some credibility in the international business world and has financial reserve. that is massive whether or not you like him

His notable and major failure, no Electricity, did not deal sufficietly with corruption or its root cause, did not build infrastrutures and finally has not set a long lasting vision for the future.

ON the whole OBJ has taken Nigeria back from the brinks and should be applauded whilst reminding him and his successor of him(OBJ's) failures.

That is where UMY should start from.

If we stop being too smart the solution to our problems is not technical or too much intellectual but rather common sense. It is rather simple and should be dealt with as such, whether or not UMY has the courage to stand up to his political paymaster is another matter.

What we should prayed to GOD for his to grant our leaders wisdom and abundance of it to lead us right, then corruption will become an endanger species in Nigeria, how and when that will happen is a matter of debate. It will happen and hope in my life time. Human being is always about evolution, some people one day will revolt to things like corruption

May God grant me the strenght,mercy and wisdom to always do the right things and be with our Great country Nigeria.

Posted by MILITIA

By setting standards and goals to be achieved on a yearly basis!

Very good point.
In addition, I think these goals should be evaluated every 3 months by an independent body; and the result of each evaluation result should be made open to the public.

This move will expose the ineffective leaders and assist citizens to make conclusive decision during next political election process.

I would suggets that
1. All public accounts should be published at least quarterly
2. Immunity for Govs and presido should be scrapped
3. There should be very clear standards that must be met for any job executed
4. All contracts for infrastructural development should be awarded by open bidding system
5. Question and answer session for heads of parastatals, ministers, govs and presido should be held quarterly.

These should help.

And yes public officers should be mandated along with their families to use our local facilities.

@Dis Guy and angel101

Good one! let these govt officials make their family members use facilities in Nigeria only!

Yes! New and reformed EFCC officials in every state instead of people like that ye ye Ribadu monopolizing the institution!

@topic
by being honest and transparent themselves, and thinking of the good of the whole nation and not their selfish interest. with this they have full authority and power to monitor others.

To prevent new officials from being corrupt we must start with the MINER toothless general called [size=20pt]IBB[/size]
Not until we make him account for the liberation of corruption in Nigeria. we will never go any where.  you can cut the tree but we must go back to the root to prevent the epidemic. one love my boy BIGB1

Biggy don't worry i'm going on vacation
hope we meet in Abuja for pepper soup

MILITIA:


Yes! New and reformed EFCC officials in every state instead of people like that ye ye Ribadu monopolizing the institution!

LOL!!

RIBADU is a fine cop and has done wonders for Nigerians. Wait and until Yar Adua give him go ahead and apprehend all the past looters.

The issue of making sure the government officials and their families only use facilities in Nigeria is already in the works.

This however only means that infrastructure will improve it doesn't really prevent stealing.

The system of publicizing the budget of all government agencies, ministries, states and local governments as carried out by OBJ will ensure people know how much money was gotten and if there is no sign of it being used appropriately the people will easily know.

Then there is also account keeping and auditing.

You can check out the ministry of finance website to know how much some of these government officials are recieving. That I think is what they call accountability abi? So that they can be held accountable.

please call a spade a spade. If you can afford to send your children and family to a private school, is it a crime? is that not one of your constitutional right?

Accountability and transparency?

We don't have checks and balances in Nigeria, how can you prevent corruption when they are still using paper to record transactions?

How can you reduce corruption when most of the top government officials don't even know how to operate a computer?

people you have to be close to ASO Rock and some of this governors to see how far back we are in Nigeria.

paper can lie but computer wont lie. we need a centralized database

checks and balances

Independent auditors

and educated officials.

Posted by MAMAJAMA:

computer wont lie

What a big joke.

@Mamajama

I beg to differ that most people in the ministries don't know how to operate computers. I don't even think there is a single staff in an administrative department that doesn't know how to operate a computer. When yahoo boys wey no sabi spell dey operate computer?

If you go through the hearings of the PTDF issue, you will know how much every single financial exchange is recorded.

www.nigerianmuse.com/important_documents/?u=PTDF_Senate_AdHoc_Committee_Report.htm

Dude computer does not lie people lie. There is something called GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT

I just wish you'd look at the documents and see that even with garbage in garbage out. There is accountability.

If a minister types garbage in that he is going to withdraw N2m while he wants to withdraw $2million, then N2m will be approve for him and when he reaches the bank, they will give him N2m. So I believe the garbage in garbage out will not help them.

Not to forget that he/she has already imputed that they are withdrawing N2million so must therefore give an account of how it was spent.

Please read the Atiku PTDF hearings. I was shocked at the level the government goes in tracking financial activities.

www.nigerianmuse.com/important_documents/?u=PTDF_Senate_AdHoc_Committee_Report.htm

That is where the independent auditors come in. Do they have end of year auditors of ministries in Nigeria? and I'm not talking of internal audit department that works with the ministry. a third party with absolutely no ties to the organization.

Those are only brought in when there is a suspicion of fraud.

BINGO, why wait for the system to fail before we start scrutinizing account spending?  the good stealer's like IBB will never be exposed or caught as they have a chop i chop Slogan.

people. so go figure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out Garbage in, garbage out.

@Mamajama

there are internal auditors to scrutinize. When the system fails, external once can be brought in. Imagine the costs of having external auditors audit ALL the government accounts.

I think deterrence is another tool that will be used. As time goes on, those that chopped money during the previous administrations will be brought to book.

denex:

@Mamajama

there are internal auditors to scrutinize. When the system fails, external once can be brought in. Imagine the costs of having external auditors audit ALL the government accounts.

Internal audit can be influenced. A third party with no ties will be hard to influence. you cant let the same guy that deposit the money in the bank sign all the checks, it will never work. There has to be a process of accountability. Special auditors will find all the loop holes.

Third party, fourth party or fifth part means absolutely nothing; If these folks want to change numbers on the paper or on the computer system, believe me, it is very much doable. And it is very easy.

Hence, I recommend for individual to have respect for the constitution and do what is right by displaying excellent examples for others to follow.