By Abdullahi Alhassan

The Coalition of Arewa Youths for Zero Corruption, a think-tank for anti-corruption and transparency with the vision of eradicating corruption in the Nigerian civil and public service has commended some Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies for performing exceedingly well in the 2022 Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission’s (ICPC) 2022 Integrity Report despite challenges and distractions from within and outside their organisations.

In a press release signed and made available to journalists in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Mallam Aliyu Bello Mohammed described the high performance of certain ministries, parastatals and agencies they have been monitoring and engaging with as highly exceptional, adding that they have shown to the whole world that a corrupt free Nigeria is possible.

According to him, the group said “we had expected that agencies such as National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) will be indicted due to the many running battles they had with host communities and stakeholders from within and outside but to our greatest surprise, they complied fully with the ICPC integrity test with outstanding results.

“As transparency ambassadors, we call on other agencies, parastatals and ministries who either failed the integrity test or did not respond to the enquiry possibly for fear of indictment to emulate them and follow their template in fighting corruption.

“They should be chosen and appointed as transparency consultants so that they can share their secrets and strategies with other organisations”, the group added.

The group however, expressed displeasure with some top government agencies, ministries and agencies that have been listed as having High Corruption Risk (HCR) as highlighted by the ICPC in the 2022 Integrity Report released via its Twitter page on the 12th of January 2023.

“It is appalling that despite the anti-corruption stance of the present administration, some 52 MDAs were classified as having ‘High Corruption Risk (HCR)’ by the ICPC. Their failure to respond to the Ethics and Integrity (EICS) enquiry filed by the commission in the year 2022 can best be described as complicity and a desperate attempt to hide their unethical practices.

“We, therefore, call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies to immediately swing into action and sanction organisations whose ranking on the Integrity Report was very low to serve as a deterrent to others”, part of the statement said.

While commending President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the EFCC for doing a professional and timely audit into the performance of MDAs, the group insisted that agencies that failed to comply with the Ethics and Integrity Enquiry and those that performed very poorly in key performance indicators like the Nigerian Police Force(NPF) must be compelled, using all legal instruments available to enforce their compliance.

According to the statement, “no stone must be left unturned in the fight to eradicate corruption in Nigeria”.