…charges them to act as vanguard for the enthronement of good governance.
The flagship initiative of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for citizen-volunteers against corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps has been inaugurated for Kwara and Osun states.
The state chapters of the Corps were inaugurated after elections had been held and new Executive Committee Members (Exco) emerged.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the officials that will run the affairs of the Kwara State chapter for the next two years, the Acting Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Usman Abubakar, who was represented by Mr. Mike Sowe, National Coordinator of the Corps, charged them to see themselves as members of a sacred vanguard for the enthronement of good governance in the state in particular, and Nigeria in general. He urged them to live by personal example, and to study the Public Service Rules and other extant regulations governing the operations of the public service so as to be able to identify infractions and report same to the Commission.
At Oshogbo, Osun State, the Acting Chairman advised the new exco members to carry out their assignment with diligence and a sense of purpose since they had been elected to serve as the eyes and ears of the Commission in the state.
Responding on behalf of the Kwara State executive, the State Coordinator, Mr Mohammed Ayinde Abdullahi promised to abide by the rules and regulations guiding the operations of NAVC. In the same vein, his counterpart in Osun State, Mr Oketunde Ademola Olawuyi, pledged the support of the executive and members in assisting the Commission in its fight against corruption.
NAVC is an initiative of the Commission designed to enlist citizens as a critical mass of foot soldiers in the fight against corruption. The initiative, which was started in 2007 has undergone restructuring and re-engineering to eliminate its vulnerabilities to abuse perpetrated by some of its members in the past.
The new NAVC requires that its prospective members be gainfully employed, as well as being upright and patriotic citizens.