From Maurice Okafor,Enugu.
The Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission[ICPC],Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, has assured that his commission will continue to train and re train Anti Corruption and Transparency Unit[ACTU] officials, to enable them live up to the expectations and challenges of reducing corruption to the barest minimum in the country,most especially in the various Ministries,Departments and Agencies of the government.
Prof Owasanoye gave the assurance in his speech delivered at a two day Capacity Building Workshop held for ACTU Executives in the South East zone of the country,at Amadeo event centre,Enugu,from Wednesday August 31st to Thursday,September 1.
The ICPC Boss,who was represented at the event by one of the ICPC Board member,Senator Anthony Agbo,described ACTU officials as an important unit of ICPC who must strive hard in fighting the scourge in their various locations. He said the objectives of the workshop is to train them on the National Ethics and Integrity Policy[NEIP],Constituency/Executive Projects Tracking Initiatives[CEPTI], to be followed with a round table dialogue on Ethics Compliance score card[EIC] thereafter.
Owasanoye stated in his address read by Senator Agbo, ‘In our estimation, therefore,the ACTU have been and would continue to be a vibrant tool of diminishing corruption in the public service of Nigeria, especially at the federal level. We,on our own part will continue to build the capacity of ACTU’s to enable them achieve the mandate for which they were established. It is for this reason that we organized this training and a round table which will take place across the six geo political zones of the country’
He disclosed that the training in Enugu for South East zone ACTU Executives was the fifth in the series after that of Abuja,Ibadan,Uyo and Makurdi editions,all geared towards equipping the officials with modern trends in fighting corruption.
He stated further,’The focus of the training is to equip ACTU Executives with the basic knowledge of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy[NEIP] so they can contribute towards promoting the seven core values contained in the policy of their various Ministries,Departments and Agencies by imbibing and transmitting the core values in their daily lives and transmitting same to their colleagues’.
The two day workshop featured lectures on ‘Overview of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy,Building Partnerships and Understanding the consequence Management template-Role of ACTU in promoting the NEIP in MDA’s, delivered by Mrs Emilia Uba, a chief Superintendent of ICPC.
Among other lectures delivered at the two day training were [EICS as value re orientaiton tool in the public serv ice and the ACTU personnel as an agent of change in MDA’s,CEPTI as Projects Redemption/Interventionist Vehicle for good governance. The role of ACTU,delivered by Mr Kennedy Ebhotemen,the Enugu state ICPC Commissioner.
Senator Anthony Agbo in his words of encouragement urged ACTU Executives in the South East zone to demonstrate the lessons they imbibed from the training in their various engagements as citizens of Nigeria,who are committed in the arduous task of reducing corruption to the barest minimum in all sectors.
Agbo stated,’If everybody will do things right,Nigeria will begin to function well in all sectors. The corruption is every where.You can hardly meet any Nigerian,whether in the church or mosque,who does things uprightly. But we have a culture of blaming President Buhari for every problem,even when a husband and his wife quarrels in thier home,the cause of their misunderstanding will be atrributed to President Buhari. We must start to do things right,So we can get Nigeria back on track’.
