Dr. Felix Babatunde Obada is the Executive Vice Chairman of the National eGovernment Strategies (NeGSt), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created in March 2004 by the Federal Government with the mandate to facilitate, drive and implement the Nigerian eGovernment Programme under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. An astute administrator, Obada speaks with BODE ADEWUMI in this interview on the recently-launched project of NeGSt and other activities of the organisation. Excerpts:
Why is National eGovernment Strategies (NeGSt) concerned about fighting corruption?
Everybody in Nigeria should be concerned about corruption. President Buhari famously said unless Nigerians kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigerians. In NeGSt, we love Nigeria. We don’t want corruption to kill all of us. Nigeria is now the poverty capital of the world, thanks to corruption.
Really, things are very bad and it should not continue that way. I know there is corruption in other countries, but our own is just too much. Something has to be done about it. That is why NeGSt is concerned about fighting corruption. As a matter of fact, NeGSt was created to do just that. We were created in 2004 by Government to implement electronic governance. And electronic governance is all about transparency and accountability. It is all about efficiency, effectiveness and stemming corruption. So, we are actually fulfilling our mandate by fighting corruption in Nigeria.
So, NeGSt is trying solely to fight corruption?
NeGSt was created to move the Nigerian government businesses from the analogue to digital technology. NeGSt is the operator of eGovernance in Nigeria. Two outfits were actually created at the same time, NeGSt and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). NITDA is the ICT industry regulator and NeGSt is working in collaboration with NITDA to fight corruption in Nigeria.
So, it is a government agency?
NeGSt is not a government agency. We are private sector-driven. It will be unthinkable in this part of the world for a government agency to attempt to fight corruption within government.
Why are you so sure it will achieve maximum success?
We have already achieved some successes. We took a pilot project and decided to start small. We took only one government MDA and we tried to apply transparency and accountability in two small offerings of that MDA and the result is amazing. Now, you will remember, in the days of yore, some dubious Nigerians formed the habit of procuring several international passports.
You will find a Nigerian owning four or five different passports. If he goes to one embassy and applies for a visa and he is denied, he will simply throw that passport away and go to procure another one. That was possible because passport processing was done manually. So, some Nigerians were used to doing such devious things but now it is no longer possible since we introduced the new system. Over the past ten years or so it is just one passport per person. So, NeGSt achieved great success with the pilot project. We also helped that agency to increase government revenue by as much as 1000 per cent. And there has never been any report of data, money, safety, security, infringement on the platform.
So, that is the template NeGSt has developed which can be replicated across the board. NeGSt is therefore saying without any iota of doubt that government revenue will increase by a minimum of 300 per cent once the new digital corruption prevention tool is applied across revenue generating agencies.
You recently launched a project called TAS, let us know what it is all about?
TAS means Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability. Can you remember that President Buhari started the War Against Indiscipline (WAI)? WAI was actually designed to fight corruption because; inefficiency, indiscipline and corruption are children of the same parent. President Buhari created WAI at the time he was a military officer but he did not remember to create any structure to support WAI. But even at that, Nigerians welcomed WAI whole-heartedly. Discipline was the order of the day everywhere. You will see people queuing up at bus-stops, banking halls, airport, and people showed respect for one another.
There was, therefore, a lot of discipline. This went on for about a year or two and Nigeria was beginning to change for the better. People were happy to identify themselves as proud Nigerians everywhere across the globe. Unfortunately, however, the storms of life blew the regime away, the man that created WAI was removed from office via a military coup and the people who came to power were not interested in going ahead with WAI, even though Nigerians embraced it. That is why WAI collapsed.
So, when Obasanjo’s administration came in, he created two permanent structures to support WAI. He created NITDA and NeSGT. NITDA is wholly-owned, while NeGSt is private. The mandate assigned to NeGSt was registered in accordance with the laws of Nigeria and the company has been operating as a good corporate citizen of the Nation.
The two permanent structures created by government are presently collaborating to stem corruption. We are working in tandem to implement Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability. While one is working as the operator, the other one is working as the regulator. Other government support measures have also been articulated, these include such measures as the Due Process Servicom, TSA, OTP, etc. There are quite a number of such support policies, the unfortunate thing, however, is that they are all operating in silos. They are not talking to each other. So, rather than abate, corruption is actually growing in leaps and bounds. The NeGSt digital solution will be able to correct this anomaly. It has worked in one MDA, there is no reason it will not work in all the others.
Do you think it is possible to fight corruption in the midst of poverty that is ravaging Nigeria?
Why not? Nigerians are hungry because some people are busy stealing our money and starching it away. If that money is not stolen, it will be available for Nigerians to spend. Corrupt people always find a way to take out our money to Switzerland, UK, USA etc and bank it there. They use our money to enhance the economy of other nations while pauperising Nigerians. If that money were to remain here in Nigeria, it will be used to develop our infrastructure, it will be used to create jobs and millions of unemployed graduates will have jobs.
Trillions and trillions of Naira are stolen from this economy on annual basis. What was stolen in the past after independence was only a few millions but now people steal in trillions. That is the unfortunate situation even as at today. So, we cannot all fold our arms, and allow this kind of situation to continue forever. Nigeria currently has one of the largest population of young people in the whole world and this young Nigerians are clamouring to have a corruption free society. I believe that by the special grace of God and the cooperation of all Nigerians, TAS will be successful.
So, what advice would you give to the government in terms of institutionalizing anti-corruption networks? Because you don’t build people, you build institutions. In advanced countries, they will try to steal but there are institutions there that prevent them from doing that. So, how would the government have such institutions in Nigeria?
The president has been talking about fighting corruption since he assumed office, in fact, a lot of people voted for him because of WAI. People loved him and said this man is going to fight corruption for us, that was why they brought him back and since he got there, there is not a day he doesn’t talk about corruption. So, NeGSt is now saying, okay we have this tool, take this tool, and let us work with it. I am sure he will be a happy man to know that there is a tool with which corruption can be stopped and it will be fought very easily and eliminated.
What would you like to add to make sure that people understand what you are really out for?
NeGSt has made her vision and digital tool very simple and user-friendly. We are already explaining it to people and to various levels of government. It is being embraced enthusiastically. We want the citizens to obtain value for their money, if you are buying something, you should get value for what you are buying, and you should get it on time. So, NeGSt will be serving as a desirable intermediary between government and the citizens. If you want to apply for a driver’s license or a travel document for instance, we will make sure you get it on time, without hassle and without having to grease the palm of anyone.
President Buhari has made it abundantly clear that every Nigerian citizen has a responsibility to step up in the fight against corruption. That’s exactly what NeGSt is now doing.
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