Corruption remains Nigeria’s greatest challenge – ICPC Chairman, Aliyu

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, has revealed that corruption remains the greatest problem confronting Nigeria at the moment, saying it must be tackled with all seriousness if Nigeria is to make a deserved progress.

Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said although corruption has become a universal problem, Nigeria has its own fair share.

The ICPC boss spoke on Thursday in Abuja at a lecture he delivered on “Anti-corruption Reforms, Economic Stability and Effective Communication,” organized by Economic Confidential.

The legal luminary canvassed that corruption be seriously tackled with legal instruments as millions of dollars are lost to bribes in the country.

He noted with regret that public officers who are supposed to be shining examples to youths are neck-deep in economic crime, using consultants as conduit pipe to carry out the corruption agenda.

The ICPC boss recalled one of the major corruption incidents stumbled upon by ICPC in 2012, involving $65 million which was supposed to be used to build houses for public officers to ease their accommodation crisis.

Aliyu noted that rather than using the huge fund for the purpose, the people involved opted to pocket the money by abandoning the purpose of the release of the fund.

Highlighting the dangers of prevalent corruption, the ICPC boss said unless it is effectively tackled, the economy will not attract investment because according to him, no investor will invest in any country where corruption flourishes.

On the part of ICPC in combatting the economic crime, Aliyu assured that the agency will henceforth focus on strengthening the weak system that has refused to make the country’s economy grow at the deserved pace.

He noted with regret the recently uncovered fake agency, adding that if the country has had a strong system, such an agency would have been detected with due diligence.

He also noted that as a result of a weak system in the country, projects are being inserted into government agencies without execution, thereby robbing the country of value for money released for such projects, adding that such contractors would henceforth be forced to execute the job once identified.

The ICPC boss also spoke against “ghost workers” syndrome, adding that unpatriotic civil servants have been found by his commission to be using their children and family members as ghost workers in the government employment.

He recalled the discovery of N24 billion meant for ghost workers pension in 2024, adding that one particular person enrolled 14 members of his family and was receiving 13 salaries.

Aliyu said up till now, no single person has come out to claim the N24 billion or gone to court to claim ownership of the money.

To make the fight against corruption more meaningful, the ICPC boss appealed to all Nigerians to go back to their primary schools and campaign for pupils on dangers of corruption, adding that such campaigns will inspire the pupils to rise against corruption in the future.

“Nigeria can capture corruption and a solid foundation will come up for the country on integrity. The Damaging effect of corruption is too much and must not be allowed to thrive. ICPC will now focus on the weak system that is promoting corruption through constituency projects, ghost workers and sanitise the entire system.

Earlier, the lead organiser of the Economic Confidential Lecture, Mallam Yushau Shuaib, explained that the lecture is part of moves to the fight against economic crimes, adding that Nigerians who excelled in their various fields would be honoured to serve as morale booster, for others in the country.