Some anti-corruption-focused civil society organisations (CSOs) in Delta State have pledged to find creative ways of working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) office in the state to boost the fight against corruption.
This pledge was made at a sensitisation and strategy meeting held between the Commission’s Delta Office and several CSOs in the state in Asaba the state capital.
Welcoming participants, the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner (RACC), Mr. Edet Ufot, noted that since its inception, ICPC had always worked with CSOs and other bodies to foster public support for the anti-corruption effort in line with the provisions of its establishment Act, and that the Commission was highly appreciative of the sacrifices and commitment most of them had shown so far.
The RACC urged those of them not registered with the Commission’s National Anti-Corruption Coalition (NACC) to do so in order to deepen collaboration.
In a keynote address, the national president of Action Against Corruption (AAC), Comrade Frank Omoile, announced that while AAC had been actively involved in Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade, they were poised to break new grounds, and therefore solicited the Commission’s material and moral support.
The meeting featured brief presentations of the corporate profiles and achievements of the CSOs; in addition to paper presentations on the Role of CSOs in Anti-Corruption and Overview of ICPC Act 2000 by the RACC and the Delta ICPC Head of Operations, Olatunji Yusuf, respectively.
The highpoint of the meeting was the interactive session where participants brainstormed on the challenges associated with corruption in the state and new strategies to confront them. The participants, thereafter resolved to forge a common platform and collaborate with one another to engender success.
Some of the CSOs in attendance were Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders , Action Against Corruption, Centre for Anti-corruption and Good Leadership, Civil Rights Council, Noble Delta Women for Peace and Development, Eagle Crime Awareness and Prevention Initiative, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Safe Aid Foundation, etc.