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Tag: Mr. Ekpo Nta

  • ICPC inaugurates 100 volunteer whistleblowers in Ekiti

    ICPC inaugurates 100 volunteer whistleblowers in Ekiti

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) on Friday said more corrupt civil servants and other individuals would soon be exposed as the agency prepares to start using its volunteers as whistle blowers.
    The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said in Ado Ekiti while inaugurating the state chapter of the National Anti- Corruption Volunteer Corps, (NAVC) that no corrupt person would have a place to hide when the volunteers begin full operation.
    The ICPC boss, who was represented by the National Coordinator of the Corps, Mr. Mike Sowe said the basic job of the volunteers, includes intense mobilisation against sharp practices as well as providing scoops that would lead to the apprehension of fraudulent persons or group.
    He said the commission had realised that no country had ever won a war against corruption without making use of volunteers.
    According to him, no fewer than 500 applications were received by the commission from the state, out of which 100 applicants were selected.
    He said applicants were not expected not to be less than 25 years, must already be in gainful employment and agree that they would not be paid by ICPC for the work.
    Sowe warned the volunteers against deviating from the noble ideals of the commission and should not use their position to engage in illegal arrests, harassment or intimidation of innocent persons.
    He announced that a  training programme would be organized for all the successful volunteers to enable them to understand the nature of corruption as well as the operational guidelines of the NAVC.
    The ICPC boss said that erring volunteers would have their memberships withdrawn adding that the commission would also not hesitate to take criminal action against any abuse of position
    by any volunteer.
  • ICPC enlists pupils in anti-corruption war

    ICPC enlists pupils in anti-corruption war

    Secondary school pupils from across the nation have been drafted into the anti-corruption crusade as part of a multi-pronged approach by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to bringing the menace to the barest minimum.

    The ICPC chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, during the inaugural National Anti-Corruption Debate Competition among Senior Secondary Schools, which commenced Thursday in Lokoja, Kogi State, said it will hold annually among selected secondary school pupils in the six geo-political zones.

    This year’s debate centres on the topic, Corruption: An impediment to sustainable development.

    He explained that in the commission embarked on the national schools’ debate because of the determination to carry out its duties of enlightening and educating members of the public “on and against corruption and offering public support” in combating corruption.

    The effort, he added was part of the bid to prosecute the anti-corruption war in a holistic manner.

    According to the ICPC boss, who was represented by the assistant director on education, Mr. Kingsley Obi: “The National Anti-Corruption Debate Competition for pupils at the senior secondary school levels was designed to engage the youth activity in the anti-corruption crusade and this stimulate academic discourse that provides answers to issues of corruption from the youths’ perspective.

    “The fulcrum of this initiative which is derived from the commission’s policy of encouraging active youth participation in the crusade against corruption is therefore aimed at moblilizing action, fostering the involvement of pupils at the secondary school levels in the war against corruption, and also expanding the participation of these youths in the anti-corruption crusade”.

    Some of the objectives of the debate, he said, include engaging the youths at secondary schools intellectually in proceeding solution to corruption in the society and to encourage non-violent revolution against corruption.

    “The problem of lack of integrity, transparency and accountability is a huge impediment to achieving set goals meant for the advancement of the youth and the security of the future.

    “However, the ICPC recognizes the fact that the young people wield tremendous influence and thus mobilized them to not only imbibe the culture of integrity, transparency and accountability, but also to ensure it’s institutionalization,” he added.

  • IPPIS: How public servants collected salaries from four ministries

    IPPIS: How public servants collected salaries from four ministries

    • Task Auditors, Accountants on anti-graft battle

    By outsmarting the Federal Government Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), some public servants allegedly collected salaries from four different federal ministries, the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta said yesterday.

    Nta disclosed this at the commencement of a 3-day anti-corruption and fraud prevention training organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), a research and training arm of the ICPC in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

    The chairman said that as a result, the commission had partnered with Office of the Auditor General, Office of the Accountant General and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to monitor and execute corruption risks assessment on the various electronic-governance platforms.

    According to him, prior to the e-governance platforms, government organisations required signatures of 12 persons at different levels before monies were disbursed, but due to the e-governance platform, it had been trimmed, thus the final signatory could outsmart other few officials in the system.

    However, he called for a review of the payment system for better effectiveness.

    His words: “It has been done on pension platform; it has been done on IPPIS platforms, where you find one person collecting salaries in four different ministries. People would have gone home to sleep that IPPIS is the answer to our problem. No, it is not. We must keep fine-tuning. I keep saying, where the accountants and auditors end their functions is where ICPC starts.”

    “A typical anti-corruption approach will be let’s wait for people to take money or abuse that system, begins to make arrests and it all goes on the front-pages of newspapers but what we do in ICPC that might not be on front-pages of newspapers is by running corruption risk assessments of all e-government platforms,” he added.

    Earlier, Provost of the Academy, Professor Sola Akinrinade, said that the fight against ‎corruption must spread across all level of governments if the federal government must succeed in its anti-corruption campaign.

    He noted that relevant stakeholders including state and local governments should complement efforts of the present administration.

    Akinrinade, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Mathew Ameh said the anti-corruption and fraud prevention training was organised for state commissioners for finance and auditors to build their capacity ‎on issues relating to finance and to entrench accountability and probity in their operations.

    He added that it was important to extend government efforts to the states and expand the advocacy against corrupt practices.

    “Given the situation in ‎which we have found ourselves as a country especially our corruption-induced arrested development, the war must be fought at every level if we are to achieve a lasting and sustainable result,” Akinrinade added.

    In his remark, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris said the federal government through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) and the E-Collection system had strived to reduce corrupt practices in the country.

    He added that the fight against corruption should be collective rather than being left to the federal government as sole responsibility.

    Idris who was represented by the ‎Director, Revenue and Investment, Dr. Bakare Wadinga‎ urged the state, local government and other ‎stakeholders to join the drive to sanitise the system.

    In his remark, ‎the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine lamented the spate of corruption stressing that it was becoming a culture in the country.

    He said there was need for transparency, accountability adding that deliberate and moderate measures should be introduced ‎to achieve good governance.

    Ayine noted ‎that though the federal government had rolled out to good measures among which is the Whistle Blower policy.

  • Nigeria needs strong democratic institutions to move forward — ICPC boss

    Nigeria needs strong democratic institutions to move forward — ICPC boss

    Mr Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), has underscored the need to strengthen democratic institutions to enable the nation to move forward.

    Nta, who said this at a three-day Strategic Action Plan Implementation retreat in Kaduna, added that the effort would enable the institutions to deliver on their mandate.

    He said that the commission’s action plan launched in 2013, was designed to enable the commission to achieve set goals.

    “By the end of 2017, the life cycle of the plan will come to an end after five years of implementation.

    “Incidentally, this is coming in a year when Nigeria has painstakingly approved a National Anti-corruption Strategy 2017 to 2020.

    “The strategy takes anti-corruption agencies framework for monitoring and evaluation seriously.”

    He explained that the retreat was held to establish the connection between where the commission was, where it is, and where it hopes to be.

    He said the retreat would provide an opportunity for the commission to interrogate performance in anti-corruption issues, share pertinent knowledge and inspire individuals to take serious leadership management values.

    “If we must move forward as a nation, then we must continue to maintain our principle of strengthening our democratic institutions to enable them to deliver on their mandate,” Nta said.

    Also speaking, the Secretary of the commission, Dr Elvis Oglafa, reminded participants that ICPC was established to combat corruption and other related offences, to make national development realistic.

    “Therefore, how we conduct ourselves in the work process and how we monitor and evaluate our performance and progress are crucial, “Oglafa said.

    Earlier, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, commended the ICPC for maintaining integrity in work places and among the citizenry.

    El-Rufai, who was represented by his Deputy, Mr Barnabas Bantex, noted that the effort of the anti-graft agency was delivering vital public services and creating the needed condition for the nation to thrive to greatness.

  • ICPC recovers N20.9m for NSITF Multi-purpose cooperative society

    ICPC recovers N20.9m for NSITF Multi-purpose cooperative society

    The Independent Corrupt and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered N20.9 million for NSITF Multi-purpose Cooperative Society.

    The Chairman of the commission, Mr Ekpo Nta, disclosed this on Monday at the ICPC Chairman’s Media Parley in Abuja.

    Nta said favourable results were recorded as a result of the dedication of the enforcement staff of the commission.

    He said the development was sequel to the ICPC’s investigations into a petition alleging fraud at the cooperative society.

    He said the investigation became imperative because of the unhealthy and low level of cooperative societies across the country.

    The chairman also disclosed that the commission had recovered N698.45 million out of which N668. 593,621.60 was refunded to Kano State from SURE-P funds.

  • Over 100 properties recovered from corrupt officials – ICPC

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday said it had seized over 100 properties from corrupt officials.

    The Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, who disclosed this at the Akwa Ibom State Anti-Corruption summit, expressed delights that the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war was gradually yielding fruits.

    The summit tagged: “Transparency and Accountability; a panacea to good governance and sustainable development,” took place at the Ibom L’meridien and Golf Resort, Uyo, the state capital.

    According to the ICPC chief, some of the affected properties include 62 houses seized from a female law enforcement officer.

    Nta said investigation on the matter was ongoing, adding that some of the seized properties would be forfeited to the Federal Government when sufficient evidence has been adduced that the suspect acquired them fraudulently.

     

     

     

  • ICPC academy equipped with digital learning facilities — Chairman

    ICPC academy equipped with digital learning facilities — Chairman

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has equipped its Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN) with digital learning facilities, says its Chairman, Mr Ekpo Nta.

    Nta said this at Keffi, Nasarawa State, during an inspection tour of facilities at the academy.

    The academy is the research and training arm of ICPC with remote teaching and learning capacity.

    Nta said that the academy was established to reduce the cost of training programme abroad by Nigerians.

    He commended the management of the academy for the significant progress recorded since the training programme commenced.

    The chairman said that facilities such as hostels, guest houses, auditorium, computer centre and other e-learning facilities had been provided at the academy for conducive activities.

    The ICPC boss said the Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre at the academy was established with technical assistance from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    He said the academy was currently accommodating JAMB candidates for CBT , adding that the idea was to ensure transparency in the conduct of the tests.

    “With the facilities, we have in CBT centre, we can assure you that no candidate can cheat without being caught because activities in the hall can be monitored even outside the academy.

    “With our e-learning facilities, our resource persons can be anywhere in the world to teach our trainees.”

    He said that ICPC had since the commencement of activities at the academy adopted the use of CBT for its promotion examinations.

  • Reps inspect 95 Fed Govt vehicles seized by ICPC

    Reps inspect 95 Fed Govt vehicles seized by ICPC

    The House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption has inspected 95 Federal Government vehicles seized by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) from various government officials after the winding down of the activities of the defunct Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (Sure-P) by the current administration.

    The inspection formed part of the visit by members of the committee to ICPC on oversight duties.

    Speaking, while conducting the members round the seized vehicles, the ICPC Chairman, Mr Ekpo Nta, explained that the recovery of the vehicles was an indication of the firm resolve of the Commission to tackle the various manifestation of corrupt practices perpetrated by some government officials.

    However, among the vehicles inspected, Mr Nta said 40 of them were recovered from some Retired officials of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

    Speaking during the visit, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Akinloye Azeez Babajide said that the essence of the visit was for his committee to acquire a better knowledge of what the Commission was doing and offer support where necessary. He commended the Commission for fostering a good image for Nigeria through its preventive initiatives against corruption.

    Akinloye, who was visibly impressed with what he had learnt about the activities of ICPC harped on the need for the achievements of the Commission to be made public as a lot of people had the mindset that ICPC was not doing much.

    In his words: “The perception of ICPC not doing enough should be a thing of the past. With what I have seen, we want to contribute to the development of the Commission and eradicate wrong perceptions of ICPC.”

    Earlier in his remarks, while receiving the visitors, the ICPC Chairman had said that preventing corruption is a major objective of the mandate of the Commission which was also the thrust of what it was doing.

    Nta defined corruption as an “opportunistic crime since people tend to abuse opportunities which then lead them to engage in corruption” and therefore advocated the elimination of such opportunities.

    “ICPC is interested in the development and deployment of high Information and communication technology (ICT) in government processes to achieve success with greater ease. This will be the height of our prevention activities,” he said.

    The ICPC boss further explained to the lawmakers some preventive initiatives the Commission has institutionalised which have saved Nigeria a lot of money. According to him, some of the sectors that have benefitted from these initiatives include the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Aviation and Education Sectors.

    On challenges, he said the Commission needs realistic funding for the war against corruption as corrupt persons are well off financially to fight back.

  • Corruption beyond government’s capacity – Buhari

    Corruption beyond government’s capacity – Buhari

    Former head of state, Gen.Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has said the fight against corruption in Nigeria was beyond the capacity of any government because the scourge was deeply rooted in the nation.

    Buhari , who stated this at the 4th British- African Diaspora Conference with the theme: “Stable Democracy and Nigeria’s Economy”, held at the British House of Parliament, said corruption still remained the old and ever present devil that had eaten into all facets of life in the country.

    The conference took place on Monday night in London.

    “Until serious efforts are made to tackle corruption which is beyond the capacity of the government, economic growth and stability will continue to elude us, “the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the former Nigerian leader as saying at the conference.

    Emphasising the need the cooperation of all Nigerian in this all important campaign, he quoted the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, as saying in a recent interview with `Daily Trust’ newspaper of February 14, 2013, that “there is no political will to fight corruption in Nigeria.’’

    He said this stresses the need for all hands to be on deck in our collective fight to eliminate the scourge from “our nation.”

    Buhari, however, said that Nigeria had the capacity to emerge as an economically competitive nation adding that “democracy’’ cannot function optimally without a certain level of economic attainment.

    He also spoke on a wide range of issues from state creation to zoning system, while expressing concern about the Independent National Electoral Commission and the 2015 general elections.

    According to him, the present leadership of the electoral body is incapable of delivering a fair election, as it had a “rosy relationship” with the executive and the judiciary.

    “INEC requires a group of independent minded people, patriotic and incorruptible, who have the courage and the capacity to handle such a strenuous assignment of conducting elections in Nigeria,” he said.

    Speaking on poverty and wealth creation, the Congress for Progressive Congress chief said there was no short cut to poverty eradication order than to get people to work and earn money.