States, local councils must help in fight against corruption, FG insists

Says managing recovered funds is a problem
The Federal Government, not satisfied with the efforts put in place by the states and local councils in the fight against corruption in the country, has urged the two levels of government to step up efforts in that regard.

Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Sadiq Isah Radda, who spoke yesterday in Owerri, Imo State capital, during a one-day public enlightenment and citizen mobilisation activity organised jointly by the PACAC and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), urged the states and local councils to take the fight against corruption serious because they receive large chunk of money from the Federal Government.

Radda said that since the committee was set up in 2015, extensive work had been carried out in line with the mandate in co-ordinating the fight against corruption either within and outside Nigeria.

He said: “We need the collaboration, co-operation and support of everybody to fight corruption. The states and the local councils should help the Federal Government in fight against corruption. The Federal Government cannot do it alone. Fighting corruption is everybody’s business. Nigeria stands to gain a lot if we take it very serious.”

He said the committee is determined to fight corruption in line with the presidential mandate, saying: “We have achieved a lot in recovery that managing what have recovered is a problem.”

In his address, the Director of NOA in the state, Vitus Ekeocha, said the agency was delighted working with PACAC in fighting corruption, decrying the cases whereby corrupt or fraudulent persons are given enviable positions in the country.

Meanwhile, Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State, represented by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, said he signed the Executive Order 005 enthroning the Treasury Single Account (TSA) for transparency, noting the seriousness to the rule of law and due process in governance.