The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has resolved to utilise the major local languages in its public enlightenment campaigns for Nigerians to shun acts of corruption.
Chairman, ICPC, Dr Musa Aliyu made this known during a courtesy call on the Oyo State Governor at the governor’s office, Ibadan, on Tuesday.
According to ICPC boss, the use of local languages in preaching against corruption is aimed at educating as well as galvanising Nigerians on the need to fight corruption.
Beyond demands for wanton prosecutions, Aliyu said the ICPC was keener on prevention, whereby Nigerians are sensitised on the importance of shunning corrupt acts.
He said: “There is also the issue of public enlightenment where we are trying to galvanise Nigerians, to educate them, to show them that we need to fight this corruption. And in due course, we are trying to go into states to sensitise Nigerians about corruption, most especially in the major languages.
“We have prosecuted some people but I think the prosecution is not the most important. The most important is for us to try to see how we can prevent the issue of corruption in this country and we have been doing that.”
Speaking on the other mandates of the commission, Aliyu said the ICPC has come up with an Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy for tertiary institutions, to deal with sexual harassment in the nation’s ivory towers.
He said the ICPC was presently prosecuting issues relating to sexual harassment, while it was eliminating ghost workers on the payroll of the federal government.
Aliyu said: “At ICPC, we have system and study review, whereby we try to look at where there are loopholes so as to block them. We did a lot and we recovered a lot of money; we also blocked leakages. One area where we are doing great is the area of ghost workers, whereby we are trying to see that we rid the payroll of the federal government of ghost workers, and we have done so much in that area.
“Another area I have focused on is the issue of sexual harassment especially in tertiary institutions. I am sure you are aware of the prosecutions we are doing now of senior academic facing trial at Abuja.
“And we had an engagement with stakeholders in the tertiary institutions last month whereby we discuss the problem of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions and we have come up with policy on how to tackle it which we know is a serious challenge.
“In the area of constituency and budgetary project tracking whereby we are trying to see that the constituency projects that are budgeted, those that are supposed to execute them do so in the way they are designed and ensure that there is full implementation so that we will block all other issues that may come out of that.”
Aliyu, who was received by the acting governor of the state, Mr Bayo Lawal, disclosed that courtesy visit was also to commiserate with the government and people of Oyo State on the demise of a former chairman of ICPC and indigene of the state, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola.
In his remarks, the Oyo acting governor enjoined the ICPC to continue to uplift the imperativeness of integrity and commitment in their operations, as epitomized by the late Ayoola, when he was ICPC chairman.
Lawal said, as against notions that there were too many anti corruption agencies, he said he always believed that the ICPC was vital as it was an agency that greatly complemented the fight against corruption.
He further noted that the state had the Oyo State Anti Corruption Agency (OYACA) to complement the ICPC to rid the society of corruption.
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