The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged civil society organisations in Lagos State to join the Commission in the fight against corruption, especially in the education sector.
The Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner (Lagos), Mr Kabir Elelu said this during courtesy visits of Foundation for Value Transformation (FVT) and Step-Up Nigeria to the Lagos State Office of the Commission.
During the visit of FVT, Mr. Elelu explained that inculcating of values among students was important as positive values have been grossly eroded in our society. He explained that the Commission came up with different interventions in the education sector to tackle the issue and these include the National Values Curriculum (NVC) which promotes and teaches twelve core values in different subjects – English Language, Civic Education, Business studies, Social Studies, Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge. Other youth-related initiatives are the Students Anti-Corruption Clubs in secondary schools, and Students Anti-Corruption Vanguards in tertiary institutions.
Also, the National Ethics and Integrity Policy (NEIP) will entrench positive values in the society and it obligates all Nigerians to commit to uphold its core values of human dignity, voice and participation, patriotism, personal responsibility, integrity, national unity and professionalism.
Responding to the remarks, the Executive Director of Foundation for Value Transformation, Mr Segun Caulcrick, said his organisation works on two key areas – the education sector (specifically students and teachers in Secondary Schools, students in tertiary institutions) and government institutions. He stressed the need for partnership with the Commission in these areas.
Caulcrick explained that “the expected outcome of the value-based education is that students who pass through the school, beyond academic excellence will be ingrained with empowering human values for personal success and contribution to the society”.
He also said that they work with government institutions by training staff on positive values, identifying and devising a process of helping employees on integrity, and dealing with the need for systems to align with values and culture of the organisation through cultural transformation tools.
In a related development, Step-Up Nigeria, a youth-focused NGO, also paid a courtesy visit to the ICPC Lagos State Office.
Receiving the visitors, the RAC, Mr Elelu encouraged their commitment to the fight against corruption and looked forward to a more robust partnership. He urged them to report infractions from the calls they receive to the ICPC.
Mrs. Feranmi Adeola, the Leader of the Step-Up Nigeria team, stressed the need to sustain anti-corruption education through Teachers Training.
She stated that they were organising a teacher’s training that is open to teachers in upper primary schools and junior secondary schools, and sought collaboration with the Commission, so teachers in schools where there are anti-corruption clubs can also be trained.
Mrs. Adeola explained that the training will afford the teachers the opportunity to learn innovative approaches to teaching children anti-corruption education and integrity in the classroom.
They invited the Commission to speak on their podcast platform, distribute anti-corruption storybooks during our integrity talks in schools, and to attend and speak at the Parents Anti-corruption champions seminar.