President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, November 30, ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prosecute corrupt civil servants involved in project racketeering, budget, and payroll padding as well as ”ghost workers retention.”
Buhari said that ICPC investigations had opened the government’s eyes to situations where some MDAs present new projects as ongoing, thereby circumventing his administration’s plan to cut down on the cost of governance.
He spoke at the opening of the 3rd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector in Abuja. The theme of the summit was: “Corruption and Cost of Governance: New Imperatives for Fiscal Transparency.”
Buhari said, “Necessary action and sanctions should be taken against the heads of such errant MDAs. I am confident that ICPC will continue to maintain the vigilance; required of her by the ICPC Act in this regard.
“We reduced the cost of governance by maintaining our promise to complete abandoned or ongoing projects; commenced by previous administrations and have ensured; that MDAs do not put forward new capital projects at the expense of ongoing projects.
“Government has, however, noted from the activities of the ICPC; that some MDAs have devised the fraudulent practice of presenting new projects as ongoing projects.
“I am however delighted that the Legislative and Judicial arms of government are also under focus on managing the cost of government; because the government is collective and is not the business of the Executive branch alone.”
The President said he was delighted that some public officers have continued not only to demonstrate the core values of ethics, integrity, and patriotism; but have been identified for their sterling anti-corruption disposition in their workplace.
The high point of the event attended by Chief Justice of Nigeria Ibrahim Muhammad was the presentation of the 2021 Public Service Integrity Awards to three Nigerians.
They are Nelson Okoronkwo, deputy director (Legal) Federal Ministry of Information and Culture; Muhammad Ahmad, assistant commander of Narcotics, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Ikenna Nweke, a doctoral student in Japan.
