YOUTH PERSPECTIVE ON CRIME FIGHTING USING ICT
By Uduak Nta

Poverty remains the greatest challenge in the Nigerian state and off course Africa as a whole .This has affected the economic state of Nigeria and as such has contributed to the ever increasing rate of crime. The advent of technology has increased the rate of crime and at the same time can facilitate crime fighting.
It therefore means that crime cannot be fought in isolation from poverty .this is to the extent that a critical look at our society today points particularly on poverty.
ICT(Information Communication Technology) therefore presents a veritable tool for poverty eradication and in extension crime.
Crime in Nigeria is another interesting part of the polity in the sense that everyone is doing something about it including all of us. What differs is what exactly each person does. It is either we are partaking in committing the crime or we are fighting against it. Some young people when asked how they see crime in Nigeria they say “it is our national identity any where in the world” others say it “it is a way of life of an average Nigerian”.
Well thank God EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) launched by this present administration sometime ago primarily is to address crime issues. Knowing that crime is an offence against an individual or government which is punishable by law, For the purpose of this paper I shall dwell more on areas of ICT proven to have been effective in crime fighting. it is however pathetic that we seem to play catch up in every area of human existence even in the simplest form of modern day crime interventions. Crime fighting has evolved throughout the world that it now makes great sense to work towards prevention.

THE SITUATION ON GROUND
• In Nigeria today, our security operatives battle day to day to fight criminals whose methods of operation they do not even comprehend for example 4 1 9, Bank Fraud, Fraud in petroleum sector, Oil pipeline vandalization, Money Laundering, Cyber crime, computer hacking.It is interesting to know that one of the increasingly common forms of crime now is CYBER CRIME.
• Our roads have become a heaven for anyone who knows how to break the law to showcase it’s talents in breaking traffic regulations.
• Looting of Government properties and pipeline vandalization has been making top headlines in most of our Nigerian Dailies.
• Also the banks have become some sort of mecca or rendezvous for armed robbers like in recent times. Our security operatives seemed to be bereft of ideas as on how to fight the malaise of money laundering.
• Some of our government functionaries parade certificate or qualifications that can be traced to no institution any where in the world as seen in recent times.
• Election irregularities like rigging ,hijacking of ballot boxes seem to trail all our electoral processes.
• Cyber criminal are light years ahead of the police and some other security operatives whom because they failed to update their knowledge to be abraised with modern day trend in crime fighting have become professional dinosaurs awaiting extinction. The growth in the number of cyber crime and the immense attraction the hold for Nigerians are giving rise to unintended consequences says Jerry Amah.
According to THE SUN NEWSPAPER, 26TH JULY, 2004 – cyber cafes (where most cyber crime occur) have been described as a place where people of diverse cultures and characters meet. it has equally been likened to a virtual market where all manners of business transactions are carried out ,some genuine and some clandestine in nature . Also any operators of cyber cafes are into the business as a source of employment, while others with sinister intentions use to perpetuate fraud related activities.

Anyway in recent times especially from the inception of this administration, it will be so unfair if I fail to commend the effort of the present administration on the bold steps it has taken towards fighting this malady .To mention but a few, Nigerian cyber crime working group (NCWG), Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC) ,The media, Law Enforcement Agencies ,Individuals ,NGO’s etc. has demonstrated appreciable commitments .All their efforts have proven effective but more needs to be done to fight crime using ICT.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• In civilized nations of the world, traffic monitoring cameras installed at strategic position and monitored from a central monitoring point and to a great extent assisted law enforcement agency in those countries to checkmate traffic defaulters with their car numbers, colour etc recorded for tracking purposes.
• Satellite communication installed can be used to monitor pipe line vandals and the act of looting Government properties.
• Monitoring cameras can be installed in the banks and linked to a central recording point where a trained personnel on ICT usage keeps track of day to day activities in the bank are recorded and tapes filed, this may help to track armed robbers before, during or after their operations.
• Also cash systems should be designed properly to checkmate major opportunities for laundering as poorly designed systems could crate a major opportunities for money launders.
• E - voting processes could be adopted where elections are conducted with the help of a well computerized systems to check hijacking of ballot boxes and rigging.
• Interconnected database system with pool of information on suspected transactions and individuals could be setup for the nation’s security forces to tap into. This may enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies in tackling new age crime like 419 scam email , money laundering ,cyber crime, computer hacking , identity theft among others.
• Setting up the interconnected data base may not function effectively as this is dependent on the personnel that will work on it. so training and re training of our security outfit (the police) to understand the tools in ICT and to be able to use them will help make this system more effective as crimes committed.
• most especially cyber crimes do not need gun-arrest but intellectual arrest..Cyber crime which has been on the increase since the advent of technology could also be tackled by ‘not only arresting and administering punitive measures but also reform this great asset that is identified in them positively ’……says Mr Emmanuel Ekanem.
• Employing these intellectual criminals to use their skills and trace their colleagues because they know how they work and it will because be so easy identifying them is another means of solving the problem as this is seen in some developing countries.
• The corruption calculator that has just been launched by WANGONET is Internet based and is a form of ICT promises to be a wonderful tool in fighting corruption. This can be very effective for our lying ministries because it may serve as a deterant to our public officer/servants.i am sure they wouldn’t want to be calculated.
• Also internet systems in Government offices can help to reduce crime especially where one has to make some payment or get information from their desk. it will cut down on ‘having to sort” for a fast attention. This will also facilitate e-governance.
• Educational system should adopt internet based form of registration. This will cut down on what is called ‘back yard runs’.
These are my few suggestions and hopefully it may facilitate crime fighting thus reducing the rate of crime in our dear country.
Thank you.

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POVERTY AND SOCIAL DISEMPOWERMENT IN NIGERIA, YOUTH PERSPECTIVE AND IMPLICATION FOR A FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY by Uduak Nta(Youth Health & Development Action Project – YOHEDAP NGO), Calabar- Nigeria.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS.
Is poverty simply about the level of income obtained by households or individuals? Is it about lack of access to social services? Or is it more correctly understood as the inability to participate in society economically, socially, culturally or politically.

UNDERSTANDING POVERTY: DEFINITION (WHAT)
To scholars, experienced personnel’s, cso’s, individuals(at urban and rural areas), public and private sectors etc, poverty may mean differently to each of these groups. There is no general agreed definition of poverty but one thing is clear from the different attempts to define poverty the word ‘lack of’.
In my words I would refer ‘hardship that is unacceptable’ to mean poverty. Also another attempt to define poverty led to the conclusion that poverty is ‘a way of life characterised by low calorie intake, inaccessibility to adequate health facilities, low quality education system, low life expectancy, high infant mortality, low income, unemployment and underemployment and inaccessibility to various housing and societal facilities’. In simply terms poverty denies its victims of most basic needs for survival, which are fundamental human right such as water, food, clothing, shelter.
The definition of poverty may be influenced by a lot of factors eg socialisation etc.

WHY POVERTY (CAUSE)
Cause of poverty has been explained in many ways some of which are pathological explanations and structural
PATHOLOGICAL – individualistic explanations shows that poor people are assumed to be inadequate and known to have made bad choices. Familial explained that poverty is believed to run in families from one generation to another.
STRUCTURAL – agency view poverty as failure of public services. Inequality in structure of society, which leads to denial of opportunity. eg inequality in income, wealth, gender etc.
CAUSES OF CONFLICTS INCLUDES BUT NOT LIMITED TO
Income inequality in Nigeria, social exclusion, unemployment etc

MEASURING POVERTY (HOW)
Because there is no agreed definition of poverty, there can be no agreed measure. Even if definitions were agreed, though poverty would be complex and difficult to quantify, measures of poverty have to be indicators.
· The most commonly used measure is based on income. The world bank uses the arbitrary standard of $31 a month( $1 a day)
· Another is ‘subjective poverty test’ to see whether people identify themselves as poor.
· Another is ‘consensual method’ where opinion polls are set to identify what people see as essential
There are indicators in measurement of poverty. However different models of poverty imply different indicators.
· Money metric models require information on income
· Vulnerability models use indicators of wealth and exposure to risk as well as income
· Models concerned with capability and function present indicators of life expectancy, educational achievements.
However, though poverty is multidimensional, it is advised to accumulate a wide range of data conventional and non-conventional sources.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON POVERTY
One should not endeavour to provide a picture of poverty without reference to global economic circumstances that have compounded the inability of developing countries to haul themselves out of poverty.
· Debt mortgages a large part of export earnings and considerably restricts their already limited economic possibilities
· The decline is government expenditure on social services has served to aggravate the incidence of poverty.
· The removal of subsidies on social services meant that the cost of education and health care were seriously affected.
· The policy of foreign – exchange rate conversion forced an increase in the cost of critical goods and services.

WHAT DO WE HAVE ON GROUND
The MDGs, NEPAD, NEEDS and SEEDS documents, different poverty reduction strategies/ programmes, NAPEP (National Agency for poverty eradication programme), NDE etc are policies, documents and programmes that our government have used to try and eradicate poverty. Whether there is a remarkable difference or not is left for us to judge.

SOCIAL DISEMPOWERMENT
Social disempowerment is when you are not socially empowered. It could also mean when the social and basic amenities of life are not within your reach.
Components of social disempowerment include:
Food Insecurity, lack of access to safe water, good roads, good and affordable health services, power (electricity), housing, clothing, security etc

Basic amenities of life cannot be afforded by a large number of people. Therefore those who have, use their resources to influence those who do not have and thus is the case of election violence thereby reflecting the link between poverty and social disempowerment. Youth participation is also greatly affected by poverty. The following scenarios can back up this point
· Lack of access to quality education may make a youth inadequate in terms of knowledge base and information. This can also affect youth involvement in different Poverty Reduction Strategies/Programmes by Government. Education not only upgrades the general living standard of individuals, it also sensitises them to various socio-economic and political changes
· Lack of “what to eat”. Good food is essential for growth and development of an individual.
· Low income; monetarily affect youth involvement and participation. (Please set instances referring to funding to attend programmes for national dev. If any).
· Lack of access to good health services can also affect youth participation (set instances if any or ask participants).


WAY FORWARD
· Youth entrepreneurship
· Youth based micro economic financing
· Economic empowerment
· Provision of basic social amenities.


SAY IT THE WAY IT IS
What do you want as a young person
What do you want to see differently
What role can we play as youths in poverty eradication

SET THE BALL ROLLING NOW!

BARRIERS TO YOUTH PARTICIPATION / INVOLVEMENT IN DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

Energetic, readiness to work, seen everywhere, vibrant, future leaders etc are some of the words most commonly used to describe youths. Youths make up 65 percent of the entire population in Nigeria (please confirm this statistic before publishing). This is a critical number that should not be ignored from the formation, conception, initiation stages to the execution stage of any policy of the Nigerian state.
Youth participation in various stages of development is very important and critical in any society.
Certain factors may act as barrier to youth involvement and participation. There may be seen as follows:
Expression of interest / Desire:
Before any young person gets involved or participates in development processes, there has to be that desire, interest and passion to want to work for change. This could serve as a barrier to youth participation. Lack of interest or desire.
Lack of information:
Information gathering and acquisition is usually the first step in any issue of interest. One needs to be informed taking a decision. Information before decision makes the decision an informed decision. Lack of information can act as a barrier to youth participation. When a young person is not properly informed, it can act as a deterrent to participation at any level of development. For example, the just concluded presentation of the FISCAL YEAR 2006 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET BY HIS Excellency the President of the federal Republic of Nigeria, if a young person is not well informed on budgetary processes; s/he may not be able to be actively involved in amendment or monitoring etc.
Parental influence
This to an extent can also act as a barrier to youth participation at different levels of development. For example, if a young person whose parents have phobia for traveling maybe because of certain experience they had sometime can prevent his/her child to travel for any youth event which might be of benefit to the community at large. Also a parent who is at the hemm of affairs at a public office which is not doing well to favor the present democracy may prevent his/her child who is a democracy activist from commenting on any issues related to his/her parent kind of work.
A true example is that of a young man whose parent works with the present administration and this young man refuses to get involved in any development process with an excuse such as “my mum may not be happy if she sees my face on the media and gets to hear what I said”.
This can be a very big impediment because most people / youths may not want to hurt their parents and so will not participate or get involved.
UNDERSTANDING ISSUES
This is also very important and it is inter-linked to the second paragraph which is “lack of information?”
One must understand issues before thinking of getting involved.
A practical example – for instance if the debt cancellation that was given Nigeria. Before I get involved as an activist to either commend or critique the debt cancellation, I must understand clearly what debt is, why the cancellation , what the agreement was like and the effect of such in the Country, not just in the country but on the lay person’s lives. When these issues are well understood and clear, then one can now get involved and participate in such issues. Most times young people may feel that it is not directly related to them and as such may not want to be interested or concerned. This feeling may be true but except we as young people connect every act by the Government of the day to our present and most especially future lives, then everything will be important to us.
Also another example is the recent poverty level by one of the UN agency in Nigeria which says “a Nigerian lives on less than a dollar per day”. if this statement is not connected to us as youths, our future , it will not spur interest and as such participation.
Infact, connecting issues to day – to – day lives and the future is one of the most important issues in youth participation because if one connects issues, it’ll spur up active participation, better understanding etc.
Except a youth understand that decisions taken today can affect tomorrow , in essence “sequences taken today can be consequences tomorrow”- a slogan by a youth NGO called Young people’s Initiative(YPI).
FUNDING
This is about the very first issue that comes to the minds of every youth when it has to do with youth involvement and participation especially in issues relating to travels for youth events.
Whether it is local, national, international events, lack of funding can prevent or act as a barrier to youth participation.
Finance determines action almost at all levels. Also finance can be a barrier to a young person’s participation in a roundtable discussion that decisions regarding youth future will be taken. Most times decisions taken affects youth future either positively or negatively.
The list of the barrier to youth participation and involvement can be endless because most issues are inter-twined. Still yet, these barriers do not change the way young people are seen or perceived but can influence the way young people want to be seen.


AUTHOR
Uduak Nta .
uduaknta@yahoo.com
08034002568.
Nigeria.

BUDGET AND BUDGETARY PROCESSES: DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AND CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT……youth perspective

A budget in a lay person’s words is a plan written down; stating clearly what (in terms of allocation of monetary resources) goes to where (in terms of location and purpose).Budget in other words is a well written out, explicit document or plan that states the activities of a person, a state, a nation or a community at large. In simple words it is a financial plan of activities over a period of time (Fiscal Policy). The time period can be 6months, 1year and in some cases two years. The budget may be subdivided into:
· Activities
· Finance proper
1. Activities: These may include priorities / needs of the people from the grassroots to the broader society (local, state and national).
Also activities may include the priority areas of the various ministries and the Federal Government at large. These activities spell out clearly the areas of interest in a fiscal year by both the synergy of that of the Government and the people.
2. Finance: This is the monetary aspect of the budget proposal or fiscal policy as the case may be. It spells out clearly the monetary allocation given to each need and or priorities of the government and the people.
Every budget passes through a process or stages known as budgetary process.
BUDGETARY PROCESSES
The process begins with the government of the day identifying and listing out their priorities. A master plan which covers or identifies also the people’s needs at the grassroots and also their priorities. The needs/priorities of the government may not be the same and it may also differ from locality to locality. Synergizing the needs and priorities comes in at this point. The master plan also identifies the different sectors that need monetary attention for example, the health sector, education etc.
The processes begin from grassroots prioritizing their need, then the various ministries and the Government. Costing of the needs follow suit and this is done by each of the government agency. Identification of needs / priority, costing of these needs become a budget proposal. Each government agency and / or ministries submit and defend such proposals before the executive arm of government. The Government (Executive arm) then presents collectively a proposal to the house of assembly for deliberation. The National Assembly collects the budget proposal and passes unto the finance committee of the house for assessment and deliberation. At this point various ministries may be invited to the house committee for further clarification and defense taking into cognizance of the past activity of that agency or ministry .it compares if the previously approved budget activity was actualized and of It is reflected in the present budget presented.
The committee handling the budget proposal now presents the budget proper to the whole hose for deliberation .if for any reason there are differences between the house of reps and the senate, they will be referred to the joint financial committee of the house of reps and the senate for reconciliation i.e. if the senate passed a budget of 200billion and the house of reps passed a budget of 180billion,only a joint committee can reconcile the figure and then deliberated upon by the house with a unanimous vote. At this point, the budget proposal is passed as a bill to be ascended to by the Presidency. If there is any discrepancy between the Executive arm of Government and the national assembly, the president could return the budget back to the National Assembly requesting for amendment. But if the house refuses to amend and send it back, they could request the executive to include complaints in the extra budgetary proposals. When the executive vetos the budget proposal into law without ascending to it, the budget after 30days without ascent of the presidency can be passed into law by the house of assembly as required by law. The budget here ceases to be a proposal and now becomes a FISCAL POLICY which is handed over to the ministry of finance for implementation. The house of Assembly in their over-sight function hast the right to monitor the budget implementation by various arms of Government irrespective of the committees set to monitor budget.
The whole budgetary processes most times are always very confusing and a little difficult for a lay person to understand. This may be as a result of the “big” words used and how voluminous the budget itself looks like. Also the budget looks very complicated because of the large figures and these make it even more difficult for people to understand especially the youths.
The process is such a long one that takes weeks/months and a large chunk of the processes is usually between the Executive and the legislative arm of government. Individuals, NGO’s, civil societies, youth representative/youth organizations, and activists most times may never have a say or contribute to the process. Even when the budget is passed into a bill and when it becomes a fiscal policy, it is seen a treasured and hidden document that might not be in circulation.
Tracking and monitoring of the budget implementation becomes even more difficult because the budget monitors sometime may not even understand what they are monitoring neither do they know the figure or amount of such allocations to a particular sector or locality.
Youth participation becomes even more unachievable because the whole process looks like a borrowed adventure and so it is seen as “a not my business affair”. Because of lack of connection between the budget and its processes to the youth and their future, many youths just don’t want to be involved.
I think a more democratic budget process will further resolve the confusion that has to do with budgeting recalling the fact that democracy is Government of the people, for the people and by the people.
The people here are the masses which include men, women, children, youths, aged, lay persons, YOU AND I.