The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) was yesterday asked to probe the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and expose corruption in the government owned oil corporation.
Chairman House of Representatives committee on Anti-corruption, National Ethics and Values, James Faleke (ACN, Lagos) gave the directive yesterday during the 2011 budget performance defence of the anti-graft agency at the National Assembly.
He said ICPC needs to wake up from its “slumber and show Nigerians that it was ready for the anti-corruption crusade.”
“Nigerians need to know more about the effectiveness of the ICPC in the war against corruption. We are aware today that NNPC put the barrels of oil per day at 2.48million, nobody knows about the number of unaccounted barrels and it is generally believed that it is more.
“Even President Goodluck Jonathan does not know the correct figures of barrels of oil that Nigeria is producing on daily basis. He like any other person relies on the figures giving by the NNPC.
“Your commission therefore should go after the NNPC in the war against corruption, you should design a system that will curb corruption in NNPC, this will help the country and Nigerians will see that ICPC is working,” the lawmaker said.
The MPs queried some of the expenses incurred by the Commission and asked the acting chairman Mr. Ekpo Owo Nta to furnish the committee with details.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the expenditure of N70 million on advertisements, adding that Nigerians are yet to see what the ICPC was doing to tackle corruption.
Responding, Mr. Owo Nta said the commission needs more money to open offices in all the states, adding that the ICPC lacked the required personnel to fight corruption since over 90 per cent of the staffers were recruited newly.