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Tag: ICPC

  • ICPC puts smiles on its retirees

    ICPC puts smiles on its retirees

    Retirees of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), who were owed over N314 million in pension arrears, have been paid following the intervention of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

    The commission waded into the matter following a petition by one J .B. Makinde, a concerned retiree who alleged that the Director-General of the parastatal had diverted funds meant for payment of pension arrears for personal use.

    Investigation by the commission revealed that government had not yet released money for such payment as at the time of the petition. The commission, therefore, advised that the agitated retirees be paid as soon as government released money for that purpose.

    Consequent upon the release of the funds by the government, the ITF has now paid the retirees the sum of N314,651,623.17 .

    The amount covered the settlement of 66 months arrears of increment in pension in line with the implementation of the Federal Government circular of 2014.

    The commission advises petitioners to always avoid sensationalising, embellishing or fabricating allegations which impugns the integrity of public officers who are wrongly accused of corrupt practices.

  • Buhari should ask EFCC, ICPC to investigate corrupt judges, says Salami

    Buhari should ask EFCC, ICPC to investigate corrupt judges, says Salami

    •Advises against use of quota system to appoint judges,
    recommends Kenyan model •Wants five-year tenure for CJs

    A former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, wants   President Muhammadu Buhari to ask the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to investigate corrupt judges.

    The presidency, according to him, should also copy the Kenyan model to rid the nation’s judiciary of corruption, while kicking against quota system in appointing judges.

    Salami, speaking at the 8th Annual Forum of the laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) and the Award in Abuja, said Chief Judges of both the State and Federal High Courts should have a prescribed tenure of not more than five years

    “In the circumstance, corruption being criminal in nature, a solution that can be proffered is that judicial officers who are suspected of committing crime should be referred to the State Security Services, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) or the Nigeria Police for investigation and possible prosecution,” he said.

    “For those of them who are found culpable or liable, the President may consider giving them soft landing by allowing them to resign and proceed on compulsory retirement or permit the law to take its due course.

    “The present situation where there are serious allegations of corruption against a judicial officer in several petitions and the National Judicial Council let him off the hook on investigation of only one of the several petitions and retires him seemingly suggests that the interest of justice has not been served.

    “The outstanding petition(s) should also be sent to the police for necessary action. A recently compulsorily retired judicial officer trivialized the decision of the National Judicial Council by saying that he was not retired on the allegation that he received one hundred million naira from the executive governor of Rivers State to nullify the election of local government chairmen and it was not in relation to Odi but it was in relation to Shell case; whatever that may mean.

    “The outstanding petitions ought to have been investigated and pronounced upon to determine whether he merits retirement or dismissal. Merely sending the officer on retirement without an order for refund of the booty is grossly inadequate. Be that as it may, these are criminal cases and should not terminate with NJC decision. Such judicial officers should be referred to the relevant security agencies for investigation and determination of their criminal responsibility.”

    Salami asked the presidency to send a team to understudy the Kenyan model of tackling corruption in the judiciary.

    His words: “In the alternative, government might wish to consider taking steps similar to what I understand Kenya took in combating such vexed issues. When the country decided to rid its judicial system of corruption, she suspended all her judicial officers and subjected them to an enquiry.

    “The tests and criteria adopted, I learnt, in addition to the usual allegation of corruption to which the judge may answer with the typical contention of lack of evidence was that the judgment(s) or order(s) of the judge or justice or khadi, as the case may be, were subjected to scrutiny and if found correctly determined, the officer is allowed to return to the Bench.

    “But if the judgment(s) or order(s) was found wanting or flew in the face of the law or facts or both, the judge was deemed corrupt or incompetent; on either view, he was found unsuitable for the position and was consequently shown the way out of the country’s judicial system.

    “Thus the contention that corruption had not been proved in the sense that there was no evidence or there was no corroboration would no longer be tenable. Clearly, this approach does not provide room or opportunity for crass technicality.

    “This suggestion may require the Commander-in-Chief sending a team to Kenya to study the relevant institution in that country and the role to be played by our National Assembly. The exploratory team may also obtain the relevant legislation Kenya enacted to put the body in place. In doing this, respectable men of integrity must be selected.”

    The former President of the Court of Appeal recommended a five-year tenure for Chief Judges of both the State and Federal High Courts.

    He said: “the Chief Judges of both the State and Federal High Courts should have a prescribed tenure of not more than five years during which they are considered for appointment to the Court of Appeal or proceed on voluntary retirement. A long tenure sometimes spanning over ten years is most unhealthy.

    “An aspiring candidate for the offices of Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of Court of Appeal, Chief Judges, federal or state or any head of court whose age is less than five years from the age of retirement should not be appointable. Frequent change of heads of courts results in instability.

    Salami also said eradication of corruption in the judiciary should start with the appointment of judges.

    He said: “The fight against corruption in the judiciary should commence from the appointment of judges or justices to the various courts across the country. The sifting should start with the quality of university degree and the law school grade.

    “In this age of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, which allows a student with five credits at two sittings to gain admission into university, prospective candidates for appointment to the bench without five credits at a sitting should not be considered.

    “So also must aspiring judges with a university degree lower than a second class (lower division) not be considered; and all those who repeated their examinations at the Law School should not be deemed suitable for appointment to the Bench.

    “In the United States of America, to qualify as a legal assistant to a justice, one must have obtained a first class in his law degree. It should equally be further noted that in that country, law is pursued as a second and not a first degree.”

    He also urged the nation to do away with the use of quota system in the appointment of judges at all level, including the Supreme Court.

    He said: “The controversial question of the policy of federal character euphemistically referred to as quota system should be carefully re-examined in its application to the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court and to a lesser extent the Court of Appeal.

    ” There was a time when the Nigerian judiciary was dominated by expatriates and later by the then Western Nigeria, but, with rapid progress in legal education various parts of the country took up the challenge and have come to take their pride of place in the system.

    “The present situation whereby the seats in the Supreme Court are shared among the geographical zones in a water tight arrangement is unhealthy.”

     

  • ICPC to enlist youths in anti-graft war

    ICPC to enlist youths in anti-graft war

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has agreed in principle to deploy  Nigerian youths to monitor corruption in public sectors at both  federal and state levels.

    They are to report cases of grafts for necessary action. Already, the anti-graft Commission in a communique agreed to the process of urging the youths, mostly students in the tertiary institutions to monitor the disbursement of the bailout funds released by the Federal Government to the states, while reporting any fraud associated with process of disbursements.

    The youths are also to  pay attention to cases of unnecessary increase of school fees by school administrations, police extortion, and other corrupt acts that affect students in their respective states.

    A synergy between ICPC and the Nigerian youths on the fight against corruption was the fall out of just concluded two-day National Conference on Youth against Corruption which held at the International Conference Center Abuja.

     

  • ICPC cautions VIOs against extortion, bribery

    ICPC cautions VIOs against extortion, bribery

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has advised Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) in Kaduna State to avoid extortion and other forms of corrupt practices.

    The ICPC North-West Zonal Commissioner, Mr Olusegun Adigun, gave the advice on Thursday at a two-day workshop for VIOs in the state to enlighten them on the need for integrity and transparency.

    The workshop with the theme, “Combating Corruption in Vehicle Inspection System: The Role of ICPC’’, was organised by the ICPC in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport.

    Adigun said the level of extortion and bribery by VIOs had continued to deny the state government huge revenue, adding that such practices must be stopped.

    “Corruption simply occurs when a person in a position of trust and responsibility suppresses the rules in order to advance his or her personal interest at the expense of the public.

    “A reasonable number of VIOs extort money from motorists instead of charging them for the offences committed, thereby reducing the Internally-Generated Revenue of the state.

    “Such practices must be stopped for us to make progress,’’ he said.

    Adigun blamed the persistent deterioration in values, decency and transparency in the country on the deliberate circumvention of ethics and discipline to facilitate self-interest.

    According to him, one major clog in our wheel of progress as a people is the issue of bribery and fraud, particularly now that the nation is ushering the needed change for sustainable development.

    Adigun said the workshop was to enlighten and challenge VIOs to abhor corruption and imbibe integrity and transparency in the course of their duties.

    “The workshop provides an opportunity for ICPC to further drive home the anti-corruption message in fulfilling its mandate of educating the public on corruption, indiscipline, unethical character and dishonesty.

    “We need your support as we fight to create and sustain a corrupt-free and transparent working environment in all government institutions and parastatals,’’ he said.

    Adigun was represented by the Zonal Assistant Commissioner, Malam Musa Alkali.

    Also, the State’s Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport, Alhaji Usman Hassan, represented by the Director of Engineering in the ministry, Malam Mohammed Badamasi, commended the ICPC for the initiative.

    Hassan said the workshop was the first in the history of the Vehicle Inspection Department in the last two decades.

    He urged the VIOs to utilise the knowledge derived from the exercise to drive the desired change in the vehicle inspection profession.

    The Chief Vehicle Inspection Officer, Alhaji Ali Dantsoho, thanked the ICPC and the state government for ensuring that the VIOs performed their duties diligently, transparently and effectively.

  • ICPC uncovers over N23bn pension funds ‘lost’ in 40 bank accounts

    ICPC uncovers over N23bn pension funds ‘lost’ in 40 bank accounts

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered over N23billion pension funds ‘lost’ in 40 bank accounts in the country.

    Chairman of the commission, Mr Ekpo Nta, who yesterday made the disclosure at the maiden town hall meeting of the ICPC in Makurdi, the Benue capital, said the commission consolidated the accounts into four and was also able to recover N496million in accrued interests on one of the accounts.

    Represented by member of the ICPC, Alhaji Isa Salami, he said: “The commission discovered that the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) was not remitting deductions from employees’ salaries to their respective Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) owing to inaccurate information.

    “With the intervention of ICPC the sum of N34.5 billion has been remitted to 97, 842 employees’ RSAs.’’

    Nta further revealed that while conducting systems review of personnel cost expenditure profile across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over a period of four years, ICPC compelled the return of over N6 billion unspent balances into government treasury.

    The ICPC chairman urged Nigerians to “support the renewed onslaught against the monster called corruption because it is by so doing that we can drive down the menace and eventually eliminate it from our country”.

    In his speech, Govenor Samuel Ortom who was represented by his Deputy, Mr Benson Abounu, urged all political office holders in the country to strive to ensure that they never became guests of the ICPC after office.

    Ortom regretted that the state was facing the most difficult times due to corruption and the squander of the state resources by the past government.

    In their separate speeches, the Tor Tiv, Chief Alfred Torkuka and Ochi Idoma, Elias Obekpa pledged the support of the traditional rulers in the state in the fight against corruption in the country.

  • We don’t spend recovered stolen money – EFCC

    We don’t spend recovered stolen money – EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Tuesday said the anti-corruption crusade body does not spend recovered stolen money.

    EFCC denied the rumour making rounds in an interactive session organized by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for the anti-corruption crusade body and principal officers, union representatives of polytechnic and specialized institutions in Kaduna.

    EFCC said instead recovered stolen money are been returned to the true owners of the money.

    EFCC equally stated that, it is not true that it spends 1trillion naira as it is been alleged.

    The EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu also used the avenue to sound warning that nobody will be spared in it anti-corruption crusade.

    Represented by his Director Public Affairs Department, Osita Nwanjah, Magu said full weight of the law would be brought to bear on anyone caught found in corrupt practices.

    “I must sound a note of warning to all present, that acts of fraud, corruption and other forms of economic and financial crimes, whether committed by individuals or groups will not be overlooked by EFCC,” he said.

    Similarly and while presenting a paper titled “EFCC: Prevention Activities,” EFCC Head of Enlightenment and Orientation Unit, Hajia Aisha Larai Musa said the public should report any EFCC staff with dubious characters as such staffs will be made to face the full wrath of law.

    She said the commission has put in place preventive measures to check mate the canker worm of corruption in the country.

    “We felt our children lack the moral behaviours as a result of failed parenthood so we put in place programmes such as Youth and school initiative programme where we created integrity group in primary and secondary school created. Among the NYSC members too.

    “We have Faith based initiative where we set up 9-man committee comprising of both religious leaders to preach and discourage participation in the corrupt practices.

    “We have in place too womenCivil society sensitization initiative programme and Public private sector initiative programme such as this between the EFCC and NBTE,” Hajia Musa stated.

    Earlier, in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Dr. Masa’udu Kazaure said the interactive session was borne out of the need to sensitize the principal officers and union representatives of the institutions against the alarming high number of petitions which has generated negative impact on the Education sector.

    “The number of petitions to the EFCC and ICPC in the past two years borders on academic and financial corruption from the Polytechnics. This is alarming high number of petitions has generated negative impact on the sector and has been a cause of concern for the board and the federal ministry of Education.

    “The fora provided very useful information that will assist in ensuring probity and accountability in both academics and administration of the institution, as well as reduce the petitions emanating from the institutions,” Kazaure however said.

  • N1tr forfeited funds: Reps seek ICPC’s probe of EFCC

    N1tr forfeited funds: Reps seek ICPC’s probe of EFCC

    Non-remittance of cash alleged

    Where is the N1trillion forfeited cash with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?

    Has the cash been remitted into government coffers? Was it diverted?

    These were some of the posers raised by the House of Representatives yesterday following a motion moved by Minority Leader Leo Ogor.

    Ogor is seeking an investigation into the whereabouts of the recovered loot in line with the war against corruption.

    A businessman, George Uboh, had petitioned the Federal Ministry of Justice on the matter, accusing EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde of diverting the cash.

    The ministry has directed EFCC to probe its chairman based on Uboh’s petition.

    At plenary yesterday, the House directed its Committee on Financial Crimes to investigate the alleged non-remittance of the funds by EFCC.

    The lawmakers also urged the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, to re-assign the investigation of Uboh’s petition to either the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) or the Police.

    Moving the motion titled: “Urgent need to investigate the non-remittance of court-ordered forfeited funds and properties by the EFCC into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and for other related matters”, Ogor opposed the Solicitor-General’s directive  that EFCC should investigate Lamorde.

    According to him, Section 88(i) of the 1999 Constitution confers powers on the House to investigate the diversion of funds by Lamorde and other past EFCC chairmen.

    He said there was a subsisting petition by Uboh against the present and past EFCC leaders on alleged funds diversion, noting that  the House “should  thoroughly investigate the allegation of diversion of this huge sums of monies -trillion of naira; other members of staff of the EFCC must be investigated.”

    Ogor added: “The EFCC is not the only agency of government charged with investigations that border on diversion of funds by public officers; the EFCC itself cannot be a judge in its own case.”

    Funds worth billions of naira, he said, should have been paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation as stipulated under Section 31(2, 3) of the EFCC establishment Act of 2004.

    In the wake of Uboh’s  allegation, the EFCC commissioned KPMG to audit its financial accounts.

    The issue is also before the Senate and the audit report is expected to be laid before the Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

     

  • ‘Merge EFCC, ICPC’

    Alternate Chairman, Anti-corruption Commission of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), John Baiyesea, (SAN), has recommended the merger of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for effective prosecution of persons standing trial for corrupt offences.

    The Ilorin-based legal practitioner also suggested time a time limit for the prosecution of cases, adding that prolonged prosecution of corrupt cases creates room for people to escape justice.

    Mr. Baiyesea spoke this in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital at a public lecture organized by the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU) of the University of Ilorin.

    He urged Nigerians to stop idolising corrupt people, saying “Nigerians should rather treat such people with contempt and stop hailing them.”

    Said he: “Indicted persons for corruption should never be allowed to aspire again to public offices; the present constitutional provisions which prohibit only persons convicted and not persons indicted should be amended to the effect that if you are indicted, you must not be allowed to contest any public office or be appointed into public office until you clear that indictment.

    “Then again, there should be constitutional provision(s) to the effect that if you are convicted for any crime, particularly economic crime, you will be banned for life from contesting public office or being appointed to hold public office. By this practice Nigeria has been reduced to a laughing stock in the comity of civilised nations.

    “Looted funds when recovered should henceforth be used deliberately to fund some fundamental projects or infrastructure. I am making this suggestion because looted funds recovered from previous looters of our treasury cannot be traced to any meaningful project.

    “Our legal system and or laws should also henceforth make provisions to hold public officials and persons in both public and private who live above their means to be accountable for such excesses. In other words, anyone who lives above his means should be made to explain because that could be a prima facie fact of corruption.

    “There should be an effective and efficient monitoring and scrutiny of bank transactions of such people. That is the practice in South Korea, China, Hong Kong and even western countries generally. No serious society wishing to fight corruption can allow it citizens to live extraordinarily above his legitimate means of earning without explanation.”

    He added that “overwhelming Nigerians are conspirators with the looters of the country’s economy. It appears therefore that the problem will not go away very soon unless there is an attitudinal change.”

     

  • Bribery: Why ICPC is focusing on airports, by Nta

    Bribery: Why ICPC is focusing on airports, by Nta

    The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, said the agency is focusing on eradication of bribery at the airport to check acts capable of denting the nation’s image.

    He added that the airports serve as gateways to the country, adding that existence of corruption in these areas would speak volume about the country’s integrity.

    Nta said although ICPC was not out to put its operatives permanently at airports, the agency would rid these entry points of bad eggs.

    He made the clarifications at ICPC stakeholders’ meeting on Corruption Risk Assessment in aviation sector at NCAA Annex Murtala Muhammed Airport.

    A statement by the Resident Media Consultant to ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti, quoted Nta as saying:  “The reason why the commission  is paying attention to the aviation is because airports are the gateways to international community.

    “International airports are first points of contact to the outside world. It speaks volumes about Nigeria’s image.

    “We hope to achieve the same standard of services offered in any recognised airport in the world. When corruption is eliminated in the aviation sector, passengers would have safety.

    ’’I am very happy at the state of affairs at our airports. The days when officials openly demand for bribe are gone.”

    Nta expressed the hope that after the corruption risk assessments in all the aviation agencies, open corruption by officials would be a thing of the past.

    The anti-graft boss, however, reiterated that the risk assessment was not in any way an investigation into the agencies concern, stressing that similar thing was done in the education sector.

    Nta said the commission would not station any of his officials permanently at the airport.

    The commission, he added, was carrying out one of its mandates of enlightenment for attitudinal change among Nigerians to curb corruption.

    He called on security agencies at airports to ensure they discharge their duties optimally with screening of passengers, which must be all inclusive of people passing through the airports.

    Nta, who described the car hire service operators as the best public relations officers at the airport, urged them to represent the nation well, particularly before foreigners coming into the country.

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Hajia Binta Bello, hailed the ICPC for the drastic reduction of open bribery and corruption at the international airports.

    She said passengers coming into the country were now testifying to the good conduct of airport officials as against the open bribery and corruption known hitherto at the airports.

    The permanent secretary said the stakeholders’ meeting was part of efforts to fight corruption in the aviation sector

    Binta added:  ‘’We cannot do it alone, hence our partnership with ICPC. Since we started this partnership since October 2014, there had been tremendous changes in the attitude of our officials, particularly in Lagos and Abuja airports.

    “This meeting is on the risk assessment to be carried out in all the aviation agencies. The collaboration between aviation and ICPC is working.”

    Over 200 stakeholders attended the interactive session.

    Members were drawn from NDLEA, FAAN, Customs, NAMA, Nigerian Quarantine Service, AIB, Immigration and Travel Agents.

  • NLC to partner ICPC on monitoring of bailout cash

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it will partner with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to monitor the disbursement and use of the N338billion bailout funds released to about 27 states of the federation by the Federal Government.

    The President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said in a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja that it has directed all states councils in the benefiting states to serve as whistle blowers on any criminal diversion of the bailout funds.

    The congress commended the ICPC for ensuring the return of about N1 billion being public funds criminally diverted by some corrupt officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Pay Office.

    Wabba said NLC was in agreement with the commission that the painful days of the public “running after funds after appropriation” are over for the good of all Nigerians including workers.

    The 27 states that benefited from the bailout funds are – Abia (N14.152b), Adamawa (N2.378b), Bauchi (N8.60b), Bayelsa (N1.285b), Benue (N28.013b), Borno (N7.680b), Cross River (N7.856b),   Delta (N10.036b), Ebonyi (N4.063b), Edo (N3.167b), Ekiti (N9.604b) and Enugu (N4.207b).

    Others are – Gombe (N16.459b) , Imo (N26.806b),  Kastina (N3.304b), Kebbi (N0.690b),  Kogi (N50.842b), Kwara (N4.320b), Nasarawa (N8.317b ), Niger (N4.306b),  Ogun (N20.00b), Ondo (N14.686b),  Osun(N34.988b), Oyo( N26.606b ),  Plateau (N5.357b),  Sokoto (N10.093b) and Zamfara (N10.020b).

    While saluting the renewed effort and commitment of ICPC to recover looted public funds and other proceeds of corruption, the NLC President said in doing so, ICPC is commendably living up to its Mission Statement which is “To rid Nigeria of corruption through lawful enforcement and preventive measures.”