Dr. Musa Aliyu, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has called on Nigerians to take pride in their honest work as part of efforts to tackle corruption.
The advice was given at the opening of a two-day Strategic Plan Development Workshop in Lagos.
According to Aliyu, honest work will not only enhance individuals’ and organizations’ competence, performance, and outcomes, but it will also be valued, recognized, and encouraged.
He explained that the strategic workshop is to ensure synergy in the work of the Commission while noting that his team met with the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy to discuss ways to leverage digital public infrastructure in anti-corruption efforts.
In his remarks, he emphasized that the collaboration aligns with the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a technology-driven war on corruption.
ICPC boss stated that the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Initiative (CEPTI) has enhanced the Commission’s ability to prevent and eradicate diversion of public funds during public project implementation, as well as helped identify, investigate and prosecute individuals who sabotage the projects or violate provisions of the ICPC act, 2000, or any other law prohibiting corruption.
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According to the report, 176 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) have tracked 219.844 billion since 2019. In six geopolitical zones, 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory participated in the exercise, which focused on agriculture, education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
During Phase 6 of the exercise, which began in November 2023 and continued through the first quarter of 2024, Aliyu pointed out that 1,721 government-funded projects were in the tracking cycle, with investigation focused on underperforming projects, poorly executed projects, abandoned projects, and certification of such projects as complete when they were not.
He lamented that there were many cases of hoarding of empowerment projects meant to be distributed to particular beneficiaries to empower them or alleviate their poverty while some of such items were distributed through proxies.
He revealed also that some agencies were in the habit of handing over empowerment items to stakeholders for onward distribution to the intended beneficiaries.
On the Commission’s breakthroughs, he disclosed that projects involving contractors returning to sites in the period in view totalled 176, appropriations for tracked projects amounted to ₦220 billion with contracts value of all projects tracked standing at ₦285 billion. The value of projects for which contractors returned to sites was ₦30 billion and cash recoveries as at the time of the report stood at ₦163 million, among others. A total of 1355 contractors/companies were involved.
