October 28, 2008
Written by Okonkwo Paulinus
This discourse will focus only on issues relating to dearth of data in Nigeria.
What is a best practice?
There is no universally accepted definition of a "best practice." However, as the definitions below indicate, a "best practice" is a practice that upon rigorous evaluation, demonstrates success, has had an impact, and can be replicated.
• United Nations Population Fund: The UNFPA Glossary of Monitoring and Evaluation Terms defines best practices as planning or operational practices that have proven successful in particular circumstances and which are "used to demonstrate what works and what does not and to accumulate and apply knowledge about how and why they work in different situations and contexts"
• UNESCO: UNESCO describes best practices as having four common characteristics: they are innovative; they make a difference; they have a sustainable effect; and they have the potential to be replicated and to serve as a model for generating initiatives elsewhere
Background information:
So many evils have been committed in Nigeria because of lack of information or data. Here are some of the examples: -
• Tribunal: Pictures of Fela, el-Rufai on Kogi voters’ register [Sunday Trust, 26th October, 2008]
• Mike Okiro, the Inspector General of Nigeria police said recently that he does not know the exact number of police men in Nigeria [Okiro Not Sure of Police Staff Strength]
• In 2007-flawed election, there were many cases of votes received being more than the number of registered voters.
• Star Conviction? ‘’The Strange Case of Governor James Onanefe Ibori’’
• False educational qualification of Andy Ubah, former aid to Obasanjo and others [“Andy” Uba Goes to War (1), March 26th, 2007]
• Falsification of age by many Nigerians
• The owners of stolen cars recovered by the police cannot be easily traced; hence police auction the cars to themselves.
• So much money was spent on voters registration in 2006 and it was a big mess. For instance names of some people living in southwest appeared in Bayelsa state.
• Each time there is census exercise in Nigeria, people always protest against manipulation, hence the census figure is disputed despite huge amount of money spent
• National identity card was launched some years ago but there is no continuity and there is no strong database for information retrieval
• Motor Licensing authorities in the country have no proper records of vehicles plying our roads
• Federal Road Safety Corps has no proper database for tracking road traffic offenders
• Tax authority are not aware of the actual earnings of many Nigerians especially business men and politicians
• Nigeria: NNPC Has No Record of Oil Revenue in 40 Years [Dimeji Bankole]
• How much did Obasanjo regime spend on power: several conflicting figures were given ranging from $16 billion to $4 billion?
• In 2007 Presidential election, conflicting figures were reported by INEC
With the above few examples, we can now understand why there are many issues in Nigeria. I must acknowledge that there are some good practices already deployed in Nigeria like: - filling of JAMB forms online and equally checking of results etc.
Now what are the best practices, which we need to adopt? I will start with an area, which I think will impact on so many other areas.
Registration of birth: - Currently birth registration system in Nigeria is more of an analogue practice, in the sense that there is no data base in the country where you can simply sit before a computer and type for example 1st January, 2001 and it gives information about all people born in Nigeria on that date. This is available in many advanced countries. In some European countries, it is mandatory to register the birth of a baby within the first three days of birth and immediately the child’s name enters the country’s database. During the birth registration, a number will be given to that child and the number can be called anything: Nigeria identity number, Social security number etc. Failure to register birth within the appropriate time should attract penalty. Also legislation should make it mandatory for people to update their contact address anytime they change their place of residence. Pessimists might argue that this is too advanced for Nigeria but I do not think so. I am not saying that we must copy any best practice verbatim; rather we should pick up a good best practice and modify it if necessary to suit our environment and culture. If there is a law in Nigeria today making it mandatory for birth registration within one month of birth of any child, I can tell you that it is achievable if there is the political will to do so. Somebody might argue that we do not have regular power supply especially in remote areas, but there is an option: -
Direct data capturing machine (DDCM) similar to what INEC used during 2006 voters registration could be used in the remote areas. Also the machine can be tailored to use solar energy, which is abundant in Nigeria. Also to minimise logistics constraints, the operators of DDCM should be stationed at the local government headquarters and will be able to upload the acquired data into the national database on monthly basis. This method for birth registration will be same for death registration.
The benefits of automated birth and death registrations: -
Individual profile build-up: Once a child’s name has been entered into the national database, the growth, life activities, schooling, contributions to the nation, criminal life, fingerprint etc will be entered into the database. If this has been available the case of which James Onafe Ibori was convicted by Bwari court or Andy Ubah having PHD or School Certificate would not have arisen.
Voters Registration and Census: There will be no need for census exercise or voters registration. This is why best practice is good. United States of America carries out voters registration for elections but there are other countries like Netherlands, which do not carry out voters registration. They simply use their database and once a citizen reaches 18 years of age, a letter is written to the person informing him or her that he/she is now qualified to vote in any future elections and his/her vote can make a change. If I compare USA and The Netherlands, I will say that The Netherlands system is better hence Nigeria can use it as a best practice with some fine-tuning to suit our case. I do not know how much was spent in the last census and voters registration exercise in Nigeria but I believe it would be a cost saving and will build public trust on census figures. If this kind of system existed here in 2006, the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu would have not conducted his own registration in his house.
Linking the national identity number: The national identity number given during birth registration should be demanded during school enrolment, bank account opening, employment engagement, hospital visits, International passport procurement and tax payment etc. To make the database robust, efficient and cost effective, various government agencies like: immigration, national population commission, tax authority, National universities commission, banks, vehicle licensing authority etc should all be linked up with it at different levels. The benefits are as follows: -
• Single database for all key information hence less cost compared to when several agencies maintain separate systems.
• It will erase the issue of ghost workers in government offices
• Tax authority should be able to know the tax paying adults and legislation should make it possible for the banks to send somebody’s annual accounts details to the tax authority. This will also ensure that all adults pay taxes in order to have access to government social amenities. Clergymen pay taxes in Europe since they make use of the social infrastructures. This is currently being used in some European countries hence it is not a dream from the moon.
• This will help to fight corruption and also track criminals in our society
• When majority of Nigeria adults pay taxes, it will make them to demand accountability from the government
• This will assist police to stop recruiting ex criminals or people without the relevant qualifications.
Vehicle Registration & Tracking of Traffic offenders:
Vehicle registration system should be automated and linked to the national database. All related information like vehicle details, insurance and the history should be easily retrieved from the database. A vehicle owner’s details, which must include his current address, must be available. This will also fish out fake insurance companies.
The government (Police/FRSC) must install the necessary infrastructures like camera to detect traffic rules violators like over speeding, going against the traffic. Once the camera picks up the plate number, the owner wiil easily be traced. I expect to see a police officer using a laptop to retrieve the details of a car when he suspects a driver, the idea of asking for several papers is something of the old, let us change and move on with the latest technology.
Conclusion
The above best practices are doable if we believe in ‘’CAN DO’’ spirit. There is no place in the world where people do not like to cheat, even in the advanced countries the white people also like to cheat. However cheating is less in the advanced countries because there are laws and efficient systems to control fraudulent behaviours. Also the penalty when one is caught is severe and it respects nobody irrespective of status in the society. The best practices will serve as the control systems.
I agree that it will cost a lot of money to implement some of the best practices especially the initial investment but they can be executed in phases and at the end we have a lot to save. Also money being recovered from the politicians is more than enough to finance these projects, although when the money is recovered, it is usually re-looted.
I know that people who are feeding fat on the current hopeless system will not see the merit of my case, however whoever loves Nigeria and believes that we have suffered enough will agree that this is the time to jump start the use of best practices in Nigeria.
REFERENCES (Using Harvard methodology)
[Okiro Not Sure of Police Staff Strength, 22.10.2008] ‘’This Day Newspaper 22.10.2008’’ [Online] Available from: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=125920
Star Conviction? ‘’ ’The Strange Case of Governor James Onanefe Ibori’’
Available from:http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/starbaluko031603.htm
[“Andy” Uba Goes to War (1), March 26th, 2007] [Online]
Available from:http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=5420
[Dimeji Bankole, 5th May 2008] ‘’Nigeria: NNPC Has No Record of Oil Revenue in 40 Years – Bankole’’ [Online] Available from: http://allafrica.com/stories/200805051270.html
[Tribunal: Pictures of Fela, el-Rufai on Kogi voters’ register, Sunday Trust, 26th October 2008] [Online] Available from: http://www.dailytrust.com/content/view/20591/243/
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