ICPC trains council workers on corruption-prone processes

THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has flagged off training for local government officials on corruption-prone processes in its efforts at preventing corruption from the grassroots.

Chairman of the commission, Ekpo Nta, explained in Abuja that equipping the officials with sound managerial acumen will help the country develop evenly, adding that currently, local governments in Nigeria have the least developed institutional processes.

To this end, he said the commission had taken it upon itself to instill integrity in the process of governance by educating local government officials on the corruption-prone processes, to improve good governance at the local level.

The programme, titled “Anti-Corruption, Ethics and Integrity Training in Local Government Administration for Chairmen, Auditor-Generals and Secretaries Local Government Service Commissions in 36 States and the FCT was organized by Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), in Abuja.

According to Nta, in spite of the fact that all the wealth of the country is generated at the local government level, they remain underdeveloped due to corruption.
Provost of ACAN, Prof. Sola Akinrinade noted that the only language understood by local dwellers is provision of social facilities like roads, power, water, schools and health centers.

He added that people see government as a failure when the managers of resources fail to deliver good governance to them, adding that it is pertinent to equip managers of ‘our commonwealth’ at all local councils with managerial skills. “When these basic services fail, the government has failed. Thus, a great deal depends on the managers of our local governments not to fail the people.
“Unfortunately, reports over the years have not given us cause for confidence. Sordid tales of happenings at our local governments relate to the manifestation of corruption in great proportion particularly relative to the funds being made available. There is no visible evidence of the presence of government in most places”.
“While the resources being made available to the managers at all levels of government in the country keep dwindling due to economic challenges, this is not an excuse for our leaders at the local government level to fail us perpetually. At the minimum, funds should be applied for the purposes for which they have been released”, he added.

Akinrinade called on the participants to take advantage of the workshop, as they would be expected to lay the ground rules and offer effective monitoring of happenings at their local government areas.