The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has urged officers of the Civil Service of the Federation to embrace positive attitudinal change, ethical standard and shun corruption in all its forms, stressing that changing a mindset from negative to positive would eventually lead to new and encouraging results that would aid national growth and development.
An Assistant Director of the Commission, Mr. Hassan Salihu, who gave this charge while representing the ICPC at an in-house Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) programme in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) stressed that civil servants had a big role to play in the anti-corruption crusade, as silence and inactivity could be translated as complicity.
In his presentation titled “Promoting Attitudinal Change, Ethical Standard and Combating Corruption in the Public Service”, Mr Salihu stated that “You are to take responsibility and show accountability, as Nigeria would not survive with corrupt public service delivery”.
Mr. Salihu lauded the foresight of the chairman of ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, OFR, for initiating projects that are meant to curb corruption in the public sector such as the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Initiative, which has helped the Nigerian government recover billions of naira nationwide, and advised the officers to play their part in curbing corruption by imbibing the core values of the National Ethics and Integrity Policy – Human Dignity, Voice and Participation, Patriotism, Personal Responsibility, Integrity, National Unity and Professionalism.
He enumerated the benefits of an effective public service, which include a thriving healthcare system, political integrity, democratic inclusion, high moral standard, improved international relations and a responsive public administration amongst others.
In his address, the Director Service Delivery, OHCSF, Mr. Abdulkarim Gwam, acknowledged the contribution of ICPC towards the reconstitution of the ACTU in their office earlier this year and stated that the present administration of the government is consistently putting efforts to ensure corruption-free MDAs.
Mr. Gwam also reminded officers present that they were strategically placed to assist top management in regulating, monitoring and ensuring compliance to Federal Government’s directive on matters that combat corruption and improve service delivery.