‘ICPC has brought sanity in Federal Civil Service’

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says its Anti-Corruption Transparency Unit (ACTU), has brought sanity in the Federal Civil Service.

The Head of Public Enlightenment, South-East zone of the commission, Mr Suleiman Achile, disclosed this on Thursday during a town hall meeting with the people of Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu state.

Achile said that ACTU had been established in most ministries, agencies and parastatals of the Federal Government with members of staff of such establishments as volunteers.

“ICPC is committed to partnering with Nigerians to ensure that issues of corruption were given the desired attention they required.

“This town hall meeting is aimed at enlisting the cooperation of people at the grassroots in the task of enthroning a corrupt-free Nigeria.

“It is necessary to set up ACTU in the state civil service. ICPC South-East Zonal office is willing to respond to that any time it got such directive from its headquarters,’’ he said.

Achile urged them to identify with the National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps (NAVC) of the commission and take advantage of the commission’s channels of communication to report corrupt incidences.

Earlier, the Zonal Commissioner of ICPC, Mr Amedu Sule blamed the effects of corruption in the polity on lack of political will to deal with the menace by past administrations.

Sule also said that unnecessary pressure on public officials by their `kith and kin’ contributed in escalating the scourge.

“We should allow public officials to work without making unnecessary financial demands from them. By so doing, we will have the freewill to question their accountability,” he said.

Sule said that it was wrong to assume that corruption stemmed from poverty, adding that there was no correlation between corruption and poverty.’

“We should be self-restraint and uphold integrity, thereby, leaving good legacies for our children,” Sule said.

In an address of welcome, the Ezeagu Local Government Chairman, Chief Chukwudi Ezinwa, said that his administration had always upheld integrity and accountability while discharging its duties.

Ezinwa said that it was on record that no political office holder from the area had been indicted for corruption since the creation of the local government area in 1975.

In a goodwill message, the state’s Commissioner for Local Government Matters, Mr Chijioke Edoga, said that it had become imperative for people of the region to eschew celebration of indecent wealth.

Edoga said that parents needed to teach their children and wards that ‘corruption does not pay’.