The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced a two-day capacity-building workshop for Akwa Ibom State Local Government Officials on corruption prevention and optimal resource management in local government administration.
This was disclosed recently in Abuja by the ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, at the Workshop organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), a training and research arm of the Commission, in collaboration with the Foundation for Transparency and Accountability (FTA), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and with support from the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The Chairman, who was represented by the Director, Systems Study and Review Department of the Commission, Mr. Olusegun Adigun fsi, stated that the Commission had designed the workshop in order to help principal officers of the Akwa Ibom State local government councils identify corruption risks in their domains so as to develop appropriate prevention measures.
“In order to avoid both internal and external pitfalls as principal officers of the Akwa ibom State Local Government Areas, a gathering of this nature will avail you ample opportunity to share ideas, experiences and strategies on how to handle issues, particularly institutionalized internal practices that are traps, set to make you complicit in future corrupt practices”, he said.
According to Dr. Aliyu, the Commission has, in response to the full financial autonomy of the third-tier of government in Nigeria, set up the Accountability and Corruption Prevention Programme for Local Government (ACPP-LG), a corruption prevention mechanism for proactive disclosure of relevant information and compliance to ensure transparency and accountability in the operations and decision-making processes of the local governments.
He further revealed that the ACPP-LG initiative would help to monitor and evaluate the performance of local governments, ensuring continuous improvement and responsiveness to citizens’ needs.
According to him, “ACPP-LG has a robust citizen engagement component, which will enhance the effective communication of the local government activities to the public, fostering trust and understanding as well as active and continuous public participation in governance and decision-making.”
Dr. Aliyu warned the participants that the Commission will not shy away from its enforcement mandate that allows it to prosecute local government officials who are found guilty of engaging in corrupt practices.
In his goodwill message, the Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Uwemedimo Udo, thanked the ICPC for organizing the workshop specifically for all local government principal officers from the State. He assured the Commission that they were ready to put into practice all that they were going to learn.
According to Dr. Udo, “We do not trivialize this training at all. This is due to the multi-faceted impact of corruption bedeviling our country. This is the reason why all of us are here, so we can be trained and retrained on how we can help tackle corruption at the grassroots level. We are therefore ready to ensure that we practice what we would be taught here”.
The participants comprised ALGON leadership and other local government council chairmen, leaders of legislative councils, heads of service, directors of finance, and other officials from across the 31 LGCs of Akwa Ibom State.