ICPC directs MDAs not to access N41.98bn unspent personnel cost

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has directed the Finance Ministry to restrain Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs) from accessing over N41.98bn unspent personnel expenditure cost in their portals.

ICPC Spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, disclosing this in Abuja, during a briefing on the commission’s activities in 2019, said ICPC gave the order to prevent the money from being diverted for unknown purposes.

“We investigated and found out that payment of salaries and other expenses have been made for the year. So, if a balance is left, it can easily be diverted for other purposes, it is better we prevent it from going out than letting it go out after which, we will start looking for ways to recover,” she said.

She also disclosed that the agency received 1,934 petitions in 2019. According to Okoduwa, 580 petitions were investigated and concluded, of which 83 cases were filed in court, and 25 convictions secured.

“You may probably be wondering the differences on petitions received from cases filed in court. All petitions that come to ICPC were registered and captured amounting to 1934. We later discovered some of the petitions received didn’t belong to ICPC jurisdiction, as they will be better handled by other agencies,” she said.