The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, has said that the Anti- Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs) in government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are set up to serve as allies of management in ensuring accountability and transparency.
Prof. Owasanoye spoke through Mr. Abbia Udofia, Director, Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Department (CMED) of the Commission at the inauguration ceremony of Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit of the Body of Benchers (BoB) Nigeria which took place in the Conference Room of the Organisation in Abuja recently.
According to him, “ACTU was established to serve as an institutional ethics and anti-corruption instrument designed to operate as an autonomous outfit with functional linkages with the office of the Chief Executive, to help in fighting corruption and eliminating corrupt practices in MDAs”.
The Chairman noted in his goodwill message that the Body of Benchers which is the sole organisation responsible for the formal call to bar, discipline and regulation of the legal profession in Nigeria, has the responsibility of showcasing a high level of professionalism, good governance, transparency and accountability in the discharge of its mandate.
He therefore advised the new ACTU members to “live above board, show sterling examples that informed their appointment, live up to the expectation of that trust and more importantly to work with and support their management to realize zero tolerance for corruption”.
In her welcome address, the Executive Secretary, Body of Benchers, Mrs. H.A. Turaki commended ICPC for the initiative aimed at preventing corruption especially in the public service.
She reiterated the organization’s readiness to cooperate with the Commission towards achieving the objectives of ACTU, and promised to provide all the necessary support and impetus needed for the actualization of this well thought out initiative.
In his acceptance speech, the ACTU Chairman of the organisation, Barr. Daniel Tela, promised that his team would work tirelessly to ensure that the aims and objectives of the initiative were met.