Don't trivialise corruption, tackle it: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at TEDxEuston

[Music] [Music] before I start uh I think I'm going to ask for something I don't know if it can be done can we have some music these horns can somebody make them work okay let me let me tell you what I I would like um just before we started CH did a very moving tribute to madiva and um we all sat in silence and listen I've been very honored to have met him three times personally and twice to have actually had a conversation and uh we've all sorts of things have been said about um you know he's seen different different different activities and different sectors and different events and different attributes which is used to build peace and Reconciliation and build a nation but there's one thing that he also used powerfully and that is music and the people of South Africa understand that and they also understand that a great man has passed uh if you look at almost all his photographs he's dancing somewhere so let us get up and dance to miva come on on and the music has to be [Applause] [Music] good a [Music] [Music] thank you thank you Mandela is Gone Long Live Mandela thank you thank you now today um I think most of you who know me usually listen to me talk about a new Africa a rising Africa a hopeful Africa and that's usually the kind of topic I try to talk about for our young people precisely because of what CH said we have fed a diet these days by our own selves of negativity about ourselves and we must not allow that to stand but I also think that a mature people are not afraid to talk of the difficult issues that confront them isn't that so so today I'm I'm going to depart a little bit from my talks on Africa because I have a lot of young Africans here and lovers of Africa so I'm I want to talk about a difficult topic that topic is talked about uh by non-africans but even more frequently by Africans themselves and it's gotten so critical that sometimes when you mention the name Africa or even the name of my country Nigeria you mentioned the word corruption isn't it I want to talk about corruption today it's a difficult topic it's a risky topic but I think we are mature enough to have a talk about it as the continent does better as we have Africa Rising and growing we also struggle with issues of creating jobs we have a long way to go we are talking about growth but we actually need to grow faster to be able to make an appreciable dent on poverty we need to as I said create jobs include those who are at the bottom of the ladder we are struggling with so many problems and I think that governance and Corruption issues are also part of that and we need to Grapple and talk about some of the root causes and have a sensible conversation about this so firstly speaking for my continent for my country and even for other countries globally we have to admit that in most cases corruption is a problem it's not tagged to a particular set of people we all know whether we're here in the UK the US Nigeria other African countries that this exists in one form or the other and the issue is the set of laws and the will we have to fight it but speaking for my country yes we have to say yes that we have problems and that corruption undermines development in Nigeria on the continent it deprives us from Resources with which we can fight poverty and create wealth for people when a civil servant demands under the table money for a service that they should deliver they diminish the service and they diminish the people they serve this is corruption when a teacher demands sexual favors to give a student High marks in an exam or to pass them they diminish the student they diminish themselves they undermine education they undermine development this is corruption when a public servant diverts resources from the state budget or the national budget and since the resources abroad siphons them abroad removes them from the ability to do work and do good for the people this is corruption on the part of the person siphoning but also on the part of those receiving abroad or at home when people steal a mineral wealth be it oil or other natural resources in any of our countries on the continent and they divert this again send it abroad that's corruption on the part of those stealing and receiving when companies illegally refuse to pay taxes or find clever ways to take out the profits and resources which they ought to pay in the country they are working this is also corruption when a businessman supports a politician or politics in return for inordinate access to contracts or resources when the person wins this is also corruption all of this undermines development and undermines the Very fabric of our society but there's one thing I want to mention that I think is very important and that is what I call the trivialization of corruption what do I mean by that this thing trivializing corruption is going on on mightily in some of our countries right now you trivialize corruption where when there's evidence transparently that an act or a policy is legitimate and yet for your own purposes either politically or otherwise you choose to label it corruption and you divert attention from the real issues for people to focus on things that are not issues that is when you trivialize corruption when you use it as a weapon with which to try and castigate other people when the evidence is there transparently that this is not the case that's trivializing corruption let me just give you an example you saw the CH put up a whole series of newspapers with their negative reports that doesn't mean all newspapers are bad some are good some reporters and journalists are good but I had an example recently of this trivialization from one of our national newspapers the punch newspaper when they said that a government policy where we give incentives to Industries or to business people to try and spur them to invest in the economy was a bunch of corruption and yes in the past it wasn't a good policy know you had people who would come and get particular incentives to sport their businesses and it would give them an undue advantage over others we call them waivers and exemptions they would get an advantage their businesses would get an advantage because they had a particular um exemption to give them an incentive to do their job so two years ago we looked at this and uh in the economic management team in Nigeria we said and the president totally agreed that this doesn't work very well that this gives undue Advantage creates an unlevel playing field and we decided that we would reform this so that we would decide what are the sources of grow which sectors are likely to help the economy the most and then we would Grant these exemptions and incentives within those sectors and the key anybody working with the sector would be entitled to get it so we reformed and we are still in the process of of strengthening and reforming this it's not perfect but it's come a long way now this is now a whole new sectoral policy so when the newspaper wrote an editorial and said this was a sesate of corruption we pointed out yes in the past it wasn't good but now we've been running a different system for two years they dared us to publish those who got these waivers and guess what last week we sent it to them we did but do you know what they refused to even look at it and continued to insist that this was a s fit of corruption why am I telling this story because if you spend so much time trivializing an issue when the evidence is in front of you then that is not doing a good service so let those who want to look at this can go on the budget website or even on the internet and you see this publication I'll spent some time on this story because I think we need to be mindful ourselves to not divert our attention from the serious issues which we confront and with which we have to deal and spend our time on the trivialization of what is truly an important issue now I want to move to one aspect of this important issue that we need to have a conversation about about and that is an aspect of one of the underlying sources of root or roots of corruption which we don't talk about very much and I want the young people on the continent to truly think about it this is how we Finance our democracy how we Finance our elections we all want democracy in our countries don't we and we have worked very hard on the continent to have this so many countries now practice multi-party democracy we have elections and it's the only form that can deliver for us a voice for the people so we want it but have you ever thought of how elections are financed no country has been able to crack this problem in the US they've had conversations about campaign finance and they've tried to reform they've got a system but I'm sure the lmit is not perfect in the UK in so many other countries but at least in these countries they're having a conversation about it isn't it and they're talking about what to do to make it better on the continent how many of you have thought about this issue and whether we are doing it right and the way it's happening how many has anyone even thought about this well one to me of the root causes of corruption on the continent is the way that we Finance or do not Finance elections properly we've adopted systems that demand that politicians campaign haven't we campaigns cost money but where does that money come from if we don't find the legitimate means of supporting campaigns then all sorts of ways are found to do this it could be as I said before engaging business people who support you or support a system or a party and then later on they have to be rewarded through contracts or other means that may actually not help but may undermine the economy and undermine development we haven't found an answer to this problem but the silence in this room gives me concerned that's why I wanted to talk about it because for the Next Generation you have to think about it it means we haven't begun to have the kind of conversation and to see that if we don't solve this problem people will continue to find an orthodox means of financing the elections of financing the implantation of democracy and that these very means may be at the root cause of some of the corruption we do not want and may totally undermine the way we do business so I want us to think about this to think about ways to think about means if we want democracy to continue to thrive on our continent if we want to deal with some of the root causes of corruption we've also got to think of how we finance that very good that we want and I want us to start a conversation about it I'm sorry to start your day with such a sober topic but I think this is the right group and the Right audience isn't it you know I want us to start a conversation you know what if we decide that a certain percentage of our revenues off the top in each of our countries should be dedicated to this purpose and that people need not run around to look for means and stress themselves to finance political parties or election campaigns but that it is a legitimate good it's a legitimate public good that we have said we want in each country we want democracy and therefore we must find a legitimate way to support this what if we said we would do that is that a way what other ways can we think about how can we have this conversation how can we innovate we've got so many young people on our continent with innovative ideas all of you in the audience here look at this tedex is this not creativity is this not Innovation if we can do things like this if we can have usah in Kenya which helped to track political violence and is now using applications all the way in Haiti if we can have this wonderful discovery that a young Ghan made that helps us detect fake drugs and saves lives if we can have the application on budget that a young Nigerian has put together that enables us to understand our budget system better if we can have these and many more applications if we can use technology to solve our problems if we can think and put together knowledge that puts us ahead why can't Africa be a leader in thinking and innovating on how to legitimately Finance elections I want you to join this conversation please please go to innovate democracy africa. org let me say that again innovate democracy africa. org and share your ideas about how we can Finance our democracy better how we can root out a burden source of corruption in our society and share any other ideas you have about how to solve the problem let me end by saying this we must take personal responsibility for the issue too often I see people think that it's them you know it's someone else it's the government it's that other person on my Twitter I get lots of messages saying why don't you do this and why don't you do that well you know what I said the reason why I came back to government I felt that even if the environment is difficult if there's one little thing I can do to plug a hole solve a problem even if it's small it is Meaningful if there's one little thing you can do don't shy away if you can come in government and help solve something don't think someone else is there to solve it for you if you can do it from civil society and I mean legitimate Civil Society not non-governmental individuals you know those that are for higher you know saying they are civil society but really perpetrating something else you know what I mean if you can solve it from Civil Society if if you can solve it from the media if as a media person you can observe principles if you can say you're not for sale if you can tell the truth if you can use the means to Galvanize action please do it it is you who has to you have to take responsibility I have to take responsibility we can't leave it to someone else we have to solve this problem thank you ladies and [Applause] gentle [Music] he

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 120,010

Keywords: ted talk, ted x, tedxeuston, tedx talks, tedx talk, ted talks, tedx, ngozi okonjo iweala, ted, okonjo, TEDx

Id: -UMI9-6gmzE

Length: 20min 33sec (1233 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 10 2014