The Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) Hon. Abdullahi Bako, has enjoined the management and staff of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Retail Ltd (NNPC Retail) to always exude high level of professionalism, discipline, transparency and accountability in their operations.
Hon. Abdullahi Bako who was represented by Mr. Justin Kuatsea of ICPC’s Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Department (CMED) made this call while speaking at the inauguration of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) of the Company. He said that this onerous task could be achieved when the members of staff understand their responsibility to live above board in order to propel the organisation to attain greater heights, especially as they are charged with the responsibility of establishing and operating model retail outlets with efficient service delivery of petroleum and allied products to customers.
He further explained that ACTU was one of ICPC’s initiatives designed to serve as a check mechanism in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to him, the Unit is to assist ICPC by serving as its eyes and ears to combat corrupt practices in the company. It is to perform all the functions of the Commission except prosecution. Hon. Bako advised the ACTU to conduct periodic sensitization of NNPC Retails staff; carry out preliminary investigation; develop and entrench a code of ethics for staff, conduct systems study and review of corruption-prone processes amongst others.
The newly inaugurated ACTU members were then charged to work hard and enlist the support of both management and staff in order to achieve the goals and to justify the trust reposed in them by both the Management of the Corporation and ICPC.
In his goodwill address, the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Kachalla Baru, who was represented at the event by the Managing Director, NNPC Retail Ltd, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, noted that as the Nigerian anti-corruption campaign of year 2000 started with the passage of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and the subsequent establishment of ICPC, the NNPC as an organisation was the first to have ICPC set up an ACTU for it, and that for many years the Unit had consistently carried out its mission of trying to prevent official corruption in the Corporation through the organization of sensitization campaigns, workshops, seminars, etc.
In his acceptance speech, the new ACTU Chairman, Mr. Donald Ayodele Mohammed, on behalf of the other members, pledged their resolve to enshrine transparency and accountability as a way of life in NNPC Retails.