The President, Abuja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Ezenwa Anumnu, has pledged the association’s support to the anti-corruption effort of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Mr. Anumnu made the pledge when he led the executive members and the Anti-Corruption Committee of the association on a courtesy visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja recently.
The NBA President stated that as stake-holders in the anti-corruption fight, they were at ICPC to identify with the giant strides the Commission was making in the fight against corruption and to seek for a better relationship between lawyers and the anti-corruption agency.
He also added that he was delighted at the approaches the Commission was adopting in its anti- graft fight saying, “The war against corruption has changed with technological innovations.”
In his response, ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, expressed happiness at the fact that government business at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are becoming electronically-driven which is now eliminating some of the processes that had earlier aided corrupt practices. Some of these electronic innovations include e-payment systems, biometric registration of personnel, e-voting etc.
The ICPC Chairman advised NBA to key into some of these technology-driven platforms to guard against corruption.
Also, in a brief remark, the Commission’s Board Member, Alhaji Abdullahi Bako, called on the delegation to advise its members to guard against frivolous interlocutory appeals which intent is to delay judgment.
Mr. Bako who pointed out that “justice delayed, is justice denied,” added that lawyers must ensure that justice is done to both the defence and prosecutor by ensuring that frivolous appeals are dispensed with.