Anti-corruption War: ICPC Recovers N594bn From Thieving Civil Servants
BY EDMOND ODOK – Despite sustained criticisms in the public space, the Federal Government is slowly but steadily winning the war against corruption across the country.
One of the nation’s anti-graft agencies, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is upbeat and beating its chest over new strategies that continue to sanitise the system and check criminal tendencies among public office holders and civil servants nationwide.
According to the Commission, obvious challenges notwithstanding, it has so far recovered about N594 billion allegedly stolen from the coffers of government establishments between 2016 and last year.
Assistant Director, Special Initiative on Continuous Audit in the Commission, Johnson Oludare disclosed that the funds were recovered from former as well as serving civil servants in various Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies (MDAs) across the country.
He explained that those involved in the sharp practices include retired civil servants who are still drawing salaries and others in the service but collecting double salaries within the system
Speaking at the North Central Zone Town Hall meeting, organised by the African Center for Media and Information Literacy with the theme: ‘Whistleblowing and fight against corruption’ in Minna, Niger State, Oludare said efforts by the ICPC have continued to yield results in line with government’s resolve to make Nigeria better going forward.
He stated that: “The N594,089,136,242 billion were monies recovered from 800 ex-employees that are still collecting salaries and benefits; 400 that are still in active service, but collecting double salaries, while 1200 staff connived with Micro Finance Banks to steal from various MDAs between 2016 and 2018.”
The ICPC director further said the recoveries came from two classes of individuals listed as the ‘classified political thieves’ and the ‘unclassified thieves’ that constantly connive with MDAs and other extra-ministerial agencies of government to steal and warehouse public funds for private use.
Mr Oludare however lamented that that Commission’s efforts at delivering on statutory mandate are seriously hampered by numerous challenges that include but not limited to: inadequate funding; lack of effective legal frame work; poor public awareness; inefficiency and poor organisation of the whistleblowing units within the public service.
Also speaking at the forum, another ICPC official, Mr Jimoh Suleiman, maintained that members of the public must fully identify with government’s agenda if the anti-corruption fight must succeed in the country.
He said; “as patriotic and well-meaning citizens of Nigeria, we all must learn to speak out against corrupt practices by individuals in organisations in order to help in the investigations and prosecution of corrupt persons.
“The problem sometimes is that corrupt practices are shrouded in secrecy and brought to the open onlynwhen things go wrong among those involved”, he said
Suleiman also urged members of the public to desist from malicious whistleblowing, pleading that only true and verifiable information should be forwarded to the anti-corruption agency for necessary action.
In his remarks, the Niger State Acting Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Yahaya Ibrahim Gbongbo, said value re-orientation of the public is required if the fight against corruption is to achive its set goals of cleansing the public space for effective service delivery to Nigerian people.
According to Gbongbo; “Corruption is responsible for the slow pace of development. That is why as a nation, the Federal Government and the legislature must come up with a strong incorruptible legislation” to fight this scourge that has bedevilled the country over the yeard.
