NCC rededicates to transparency as ICPC opens anti-graft unit

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has pledged to maintain high ethical standards in its regulatory activities.

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made the commitment yesterday at the inauguration of the commission’s Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja.

ACTU is the initiative of the ICPC, approved by the Federal Government as an in-house mechanism for corruption prevention within Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in line with global best practices.

Represented by the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa, the EVC/CEO said that ICPC recently attested to the commission’s high ethical standards and professionalism in the 2020 ICPC Ethics and Compliance Scorecard (IECS), which rated NCC above other agencies.

In a statement yesterday signed by NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the EVC said the ICPC’s verdict also lent credence to the 2017 report of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR)-piloted Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) deployed in MDAs, where the NCC came off with a Platinum Level (Exceptional) award, a Level 5 organisation, the highest rating possible under the BPSR Assessment.

He noted that the NCC would continue to identify corruption-prone processes, practices and procedures within the system to institutionalise compliant and corruption-free processes.

Danbatta said the commission’s efforts were focused on prevention through defined standard operating procedures and adherence to public service rules, among others.

“The ACTU is a very important initiative of the government to combat corruption in MDAs, and the commission recognises this fact as well as the role of ACTU in this regard,” he said, urging the ACTU members to take their role seriously.”