In this topic, I invite all NS members to say how they would solve the corruption problem in present day Nigeria.

Here are the parameters:

- You are on your first day as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

- You have no scandal attached to your name.

- You belong to a party of very corrupt politicians; however, you were chosen as the presidential candidate, because the party members believed that you would not rock the boat.

So go ahead and state what you would do, bearing in mind the realities of present-day Nigeria. Be sure that I will ask questions on your solutions, though.

@Kaycee,

Regarding this:

To stop corruption we just follow the law.

There are people who do NOT want to follow the law, because it is to their financial advantage not to do so.

How do you compel such people to follow the law?

Before you answer by saying “prosecute them”, consider that some of these law breakers are themselves the same people who should be upholding the law by doing the prosecution.

And again, I ask – what if the person who is enforcing the law is corrupt?

Who is the ‘we’ who will do the enforcing?

Referring again to my original scenario, how as president will you ensure the law is enforced?

Returning to the issue, I think the way to go is to first look for like-minded individuals…that way it is not like one is the lone ranger.
With more people helping to help enforce the letter and spirit of the constitution, it is most likely corruption will begin to take a back seat.

I hear u, but still it is a question of appointing like-minded individuals. It cannot happen in one fell swoop. But u can achieve ur aim incrementally and gradually. Let them have their short moments, if they will….but in time u can fill ur inner circle with trustworthy like-minded people who will help u drive ur policies.

To stop corruption in nigeria?? Near impossible. It can only be reduced and that should be by obeying and enforcing laws strictly…

…Except a microchip, controlled by an uncorrupt leader is driven into the skull of every nigerian.

Kill EVERYONE who has ever ruled Nigeria…EVERY MAJOR STAKEHOLDER in EVERY major political party.

Including myself.

@tola, I really dunno o. Maybe turn us into uncorrupt ‘mugus’ whose brains will be controlled by the fingers of a higher ‘mugu’.

@Gooseberry, at least you see that the problem is not a straightforward one to solve. If it were, we would not be discussing it today, because it would have been solved.

There is another problem about solving the problem of corruption, and that is that there are systems by their very nature that encourage corruption.

For example, consider two scenarios where you place someone in charge of one million naira meant to run your office:

Scenario 1: You put automatic auditing systems in place. Then if the person wants to withdraw money, he is required to state the purpose of the withdrawal, and he needs to get from two people chosen randomly from a pool of supervisors by an automatic process.

Scenario 2: You have no systems in place. Instead, you trust that the person is honest enough to only withdraw money for official purposes.

I’m sure you’ll agree that in scenario 2, there will be more corruption, and you’ll also agree that it is as much the fault of the system as it is the person.

@tola, scenario 1 will be better sha. You have a point there.