NEWS
Technology crucial to fight against corruption, Illicit Financial Flows – ICPC Chairman
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, says the use of technology is crucial to the success of the fight against corruption and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).
Owasanoye stated this in Abuja on Friday at the presentation of demo hacking solutions by seven innovators at the Commission’s Headquarters.
The Illicit Financial Flows Hackathon is an initiative of the ICPC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) with the support of the Ford Foundation, West Africa.
The demo hacking solutions are aimed at curbing corruption and IFFs in the government budget and procurement processes in Nigeria.
He said, “Technology is crucial to eliciting, analysing and preserving evidence for prosecution.
“Public Sector corruption in revenue and expenses sides of government remains a present threat.
“Government is agonising over serious shortfalls in revenue projections and the consequences of resorting to borrowing to meet gaps.
“Recently ICPC profiled some Federal MDAs in one state who had been diverting FG’s share of IGR.
“It recovered over N100m from less than 20 MDAs that will be regarded non-important on revenue generation.”
The chairman said the commission had in the past three years invested in technology to enhance its forensic capability.
He added that they have trained ICPC staff in digital document analysis, handwriting analysis, polygraphic technology, and sundry skills.
“In the past 15 years, the government has generally invested in technology to fight corruption, especially by prevention,” he added.
He particularly said deployment of technology through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, Government Integrated Financial Management System and Treasury Single Account has contributed in no small way to reducing corruption.
Other areas are the Open Treasury Portal, the establishment of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the private sector-initiated Bank Verification Number.
Owasanoye called for more collaboration by law enforcement agencies in the deployment of technology to reduce opportunities for money laundering.
“Appropriate technology deployment will give law enforcement agencies, administrators and regulators of the process adequate leverage to know what school feeding funds were being used for.”
“Technology penetration in Nigeria today makes this very possible.
“Such platforms will help nip anomalies in the bud and save the government huge sums of money as well as prevent abuse, corruption and money laundering,” he added.
He assured that the anti-corruption agency, NITDA and Ford Foundation would further work on the demo hacking solutions presented by the young innovators.
“We all listened to the solutions provided by these young innovators. The demo hacking solutions will be interrogated further, fine-tuned and a demo will be developed and followed by a test run.
“We are happy all their ideas are homegrown and I can tell there is hope for Nigeria inspite of everything. I want to congratulate all those that won, he said.
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, advocated clear policies by the government in the fight against corruption.
The minister, who was represented by a Deputy Director, Mr Kashim Ibrahim, said recovered funds from the proceeds of corruption should be used by the government to address critical needs.
In his remarks, the Director General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, said the innovative ideas would assist in the realisation of the objectives of the digital transformation agenda of the government.
The Regional Director, Ford Foundation, West Africa, Dr Chichi Aniagolu said they were excited about the Hackathon idea because of its importance to the fight against corruption in the country.
She commended the ICPC for initiating the project, saying it would boost the fight against corruption.
The highlight of the programme was the presentation of the three demo hacking solutions as a digital answer to corruption in government school feeding programme.
The young innovators had been tasked to come up with clearly defined ideas and prototype solutions to checkmate IFFs with emphasis on leveraging emerging technologies.
The winners, E-procure; Expose Solution; and IFFMER received
N1.5 million, N1 million and N500,000 cash prize, respectively.
Mr Israel Tijani of E-procure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) explained that the platform was built on blockchain technology to decentralise procurement processes in MDAs.
“We all know that IFFs happened during the procurement stages of government executing contracts.
“But with the E-procure platform, that is about to change because government will be able to involve every stakeholder from procurement to contracting.
“This, I believe will narrow down the processes in procurement engagement with contractors, ” he said.
He expressed gratitude to ICPC and NITDA for reaching out to homegrown innovators to proffer solutions to challenges facing the School Feeding Programme.
“I am impressed that ICPC and NITDA are looking into homegrown innovators like me instead of taking this to advanced countries to source for innovators.
“We have enough potential in the country that can leverage on the emerging technologies to bring about the Nigeria of our dreams, ” he added.
