As part of its statutory mandate to educate the public on corruption and related offences, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Kaduna office, has on Wednesday July 28th 2021, engaged the staff of National Open University of Nigeria, Kaduna Study Centre, on a 1-day sensitisation lecture.
The lecture titled: "Fighting Corruption in Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” was aimed at providing a platform to speak on the menace of corruption, mandate of the commission and most crucially to mobilise staff to stand against corruption in their official and personal conducts.
According to the representative of ICPC who presented the lecture, Mr. Abubakar Muhammad Shinkafa, ICPC established by Act No 5 of 2000, has the responsibility of fighting corruption and other related offences in the country.
The Act, he said, empowers the commission to carry out preventive and public engagement duties, citing Section 6 (e-f), which mandates the commission to educate members of the public on the ill effect of corruption as well as forge a strategic partnership and collaboration with the tiers of government, relevant stakeholders and the entire public.
Shinkafa further stated that it was in the light of this that the Kaduna State Office of the commission had this very important sensitisation lecture on the members of staff of the National Open University of Nigeria.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Kaduna Study Centre director, Dr. Aminu Umar, expressed his profound and sincere gratitude to the commission for the great privilege given to the staff of NOUN, specifically Kaduna Study Centre, on their role in the society as it relates to corruption.
"When I was working with the parliament, I had an opportunity of joining a team that reviewed the ICPC Act, and there are so many things I took for granted. Therefore, I realised the importance of having this forum that is why I gave it a 100 per cent support,” he stated.
According to Umar, there are so many things which staff take for granted in public service, “but in reality, if you put it to reality it can put one to jail.”
He said “This sensitisation lecture is just the beginning. Time for in-depth forum to critically appraise our personality and attitudes to work shall be discussed and looked out on how it violates the ICPC Act and measures to address them shall be organised.”
He also described the National Open University of Nigeria as the best university in the world because of its flexible mode of operation, stating that the institution has more than eighty study centres across the federation, where people especially those at the ICPC are at liberty to patronize so as to harness the opportunities given by the university.
He implored the staff to be cautious hoping that the sensitisation lecture would add value to what the centre is doing in the way and manner people relate to each other, manage public amenities and public expenditure.
Participants were drawn from the Kaduna Study Centre, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Centre for Human Resource Development.
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