The Arewa Youth Zero Corruption Coalition, an anti-corruption and transparency think tank with a vision of rooting out corruption in Nigeria’s public and civil service, has praised ministries, parastatals and agencies for their excellent performance in the 2022 Independent Corrupt Practices and 2022 Integrity Report of the Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) despite challenges and distractions inside and outside their organizations.
In a signed press release made available to journalists in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Mallam Aliyu Bello Mohammed, described the high performance of certain ministries, parastatals and agencies that they have been monitoring and engaged with as highly exceptional. , adding that they have shown the world that a corruption-free Nigeria is possible.
According to Mallam Aliyu Bello Mohammed, “we expected agencies like the National Research Institute of Chemical Technology (NARICT), the Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to be charged due to the many battles they had with communities hostesses and internal and external stakeholders, but to our greatest surprise, they fully complied with the ICPC integrity test with outstanding results.
“As ambassadors of transparency, we call on other agencies, parastatals and ministries that failed the integrity test or did not respond to the investigation, possibly out of fear of prosecution, to emulate them and follow their model in fighting corruption. They should be chosen and appointed as transparency consultants so that they can share their secrets and strategies with other organizations.”
However, the group expressed dissatisfaction with some of the major government agencies, ministries and agencies that have been listed as High Corruption Risk (HCR), as highlighted by the ICPC in the 2022 Integrity Report published through its Twitter page on January 12, 2023.
“It is appalling that, despite the current administration’s anti-corruption stance, some 52 MDA were classified as ‘High Corruption Risk (HCR)’ by the ICPC. Their failure to respond to an Ethics and Integrity (EICS) inquiry filed by the commission in the year 2022 can best be described as complicity and a desperate attempt to hide its unethical practices.Therefore, we call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other law enforcement agencies to immediately take action and sanction organizations whose Integrity Report rating was too low to deter others,” the statement added.
While it praised the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and the ICPC for conducting a very professional and timely audit on the performance of MDAs, the group insisted that agencies that failed to comply with the Ethics and Integrity Inquiry and those that had performing very poorly on key performance indicators such as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) should be enforced, using all available legal instruments to enforce compliance. According to the statement “no stone should be left unturned in the fight to end and eradicate corruption in Nigeria.”
Source: Legit.ng
