Group demands probe of 52 MDAs on high corruption risk list

The Coalition of Arewa Youths for Zero Corruption has enjoined the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies to beam their searchlights on 52 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government classified on the high corruption risk (HCR) list by the independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (ICPC).

The group National Coordinator, Mallam Aliyu Bello Mohammed in a statement in Abuja noted that it is appalling that despite the anti-corruption stance of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, the affected MDAs failed to respond to an Ethics and Integrity (EICS) enquiry filed by the ICPC in the year 2022 aimed at hiding their unethical practices.

The group maintained that it behooves the 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.

While commending the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and ICPC scrutinizing the performance of MDAs, the group insisted that agencies that have 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.

The group commended MDAs that performed exceedingly well in the 2022 ICPC 2022 Integrity Report despite challenges and distractions from within and outside their organisations.

It added: “We had expected that agencies such as National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) we 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 for fighting corruption.

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