PROTOCOLS
I am indeed delighted to be here, because for me, it is home coming. Let me congratulate and express my thanks to the current Managing Director, Executive Directors and Non-Executive Board Members of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) who were sworn in the same day, 29th November, 2011 with. the ICPC Board, for the opportunity given me to present the Keynote address on ‘strengthening the culture of institutional integrity, transparency and accountability in service delivery in NDDC.’
The timing of this sensitization/enlightenment campaign against corruption for your staff is most appropriate. For sentimental reasons, I decided to personally deliver this keynote address as a stakeholder in NDDC having been one of the pioneer Directors in OMPADEC which metamorphosed into NDDC.
WHY WORRY ABOUT INTEGRITY?
Corruption, institutional integrity, transparency and accountability are intimately intertwined. It has in the past brought several persons, institutions and countries to their knees and greatly influences the beef of citizens in public institutions. Corruption, simply put, is internationally defined as the abuse of public power or authority for private or indeed group gain. For year 2011 in the comity of nations, Nigeria was ranked 143 most corrupt out of 183 sampled nations of the world by Transparency International. However, corruption in Nigeria has been domesticated and grafted into ethnic and official practices and renamed ‘public relations’, ‘appreciation’, etc.
Corruption usually manifests as bribery, extortion, favouritism; nepotism, rigging of elections, tainted recruitment processes; splitting, inflation and illegal revision of contracts; misappropriation, fixing of bidding processes, sexual harassment, etc. These abuses may involve infractions of an administrative, criminal or moral nature.
INTEGRITY
At the individual level, Integrity means the quality of having strong moral principles and a state of internal consistency devoid of corrupt tendencies. Possessing Integrity means embracing honesty in intention, word and action. It means doing the right thing by obeying laid-down rules even when no one is watching. The Chambers English Dictionary defines Integrity to mean wholeness, uprightness, honesty, purity.
All these no doubt capture all that is desirable in personal and official dealings. Therefore, if any public official thinks or claims to have integrity, attributes such as Self Discipline, Honesty and Uprightness, Fairness, Consistency in behavior, Dependability, Reliability and Zero Tolerance for Corruption are expected to be conspicuously seen in him or her.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability, on the other hand provides the window for monitoring and evaluating the growth of business, in this instance the growth of the Niger Delta region.
Indeed, central to the various definitions of accountability is the idea that one person or institution is obliged to give an account of his, her or its activities to another. Accountability describes a relationship in which “A” is accountable to “B” if “A” is obliged to explain and justify his or her actions to “B” or if “A” may suffer sanctions if his or her conduct, or explanation is found wanting by
“B’.
Accountability therefore means taking responsibility for one’s actions, preparedness to lay bare one’s actions to public scrutiny and willingness to explain them when required. This is particularly important in the conduct or management of government business and the financial transactions we do on behalf of government because public office is a trust. In other words, accountability implies transparency, and the obligation to explain and justify one’s action to the people who are the owners of the trust or the trustees.
INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY
Institutional integrity is an aggregation of personal integrity which will then give legitimacy to the whole institution or organization. Since we cannot confer on others what we do not have, the theme of this sensitization campaign is very appropriate to the realization of a corruption-free society that all good Nigerians yearn for.
It is a well-known fact that one major clog in our wheel of progress as a nation, particularly our socio-economic development is the issue of corruption. It is not only the bane of our progress as a nation, but also a threat to our national cohesion. Corruption as you are aware has permeated every fabric of our national life; it is the reason for being where we are today.
The rules and regulations for doing official businesses are deliberately ignored or circumvented to facilitate corrupt practices. Thus the nation has continued to experience persistent deterioration in the quality of governance, leading to instability and weakening of institutions.
You will recall that only recently our media ‘was awash with revelations from investigation reports of Anti-graft Agencies and National Assembly fact-finding Committees of how staggering amounts of public funds meant to address the social needs of our people were diverted to private pockets.
It is important to state here however that corruption is not an incident that is peculiar to bureaucracy, or geography. Corruption exists in every sector both public and private, and we cannot claim that the NDDC is immune to it nor even Law Enforcement or Anti- corruption Agencies. Knowing and acknowledging that it exists helps us in addressing and tackling it.
The effect of corruption is enormous because when huge resources are taken away from the economy, it results in denial of social, economic and other beneficial programmes, and engenders poverty and strife.
ICPC’s ROLE
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has a three-pronged mandate as encapsulated in Section 6 (a) (f) of the Corrupt Practices Act 2000 and they include:
(a) Enforcement:
To receive and investigate complaints from members of the public on allegations of corrupt practices, and in appropriate cases, prosecute the offenders.
(b) Prevention:
To examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies and where such systems aid corruption, direct and supervise their review; to advise any agency or organization on ways by which fraud or corruption may be eliminated or minimized and changes in practices or procedures compatible with the effective discharge of their duties.
(c) Public Education & Mobilization:
To educate the public on and against bribery, corruption and related offences and enlist and foster public support in combating corruption.
As is evident from the above, the Commission’s duty is not only to fight corruption through investigation, arrest and prosecution of corrupt persons, but more importantly, prevent the occurrence of corrupt practices and ensure the infusion and institutionalization of integrity in the nation through public education, mobilization and system reviews.
Today’s forum provides an opportunity for ICPC to further drive home the anti-corruption message in fulfilling its mandate of educating the Nigerian pubic on and against corruption and fostering their support in the crusade.
NDDCs ROLE
Ladies and gentlemen, the core mandate of the NDDC is akin to that of a full tier of Regional or Zonal government. You are not only saddled with the huge responsibility of providing infrastructural development of the Niger Delta region in terms of water, transport, health, education, etc., but also the development of its human resources. Has the Commission delivered on its mandate? Has corruption hampered in anyway the effectiveness and efficiency of its service delivery?
Are best practices being adhered to? If institutional integrity, transparency and accountability in the operations of NDDC becomes compromised, you cannot deliver effective and efficient service no matter the enormous amount of money allocated to the Commission.
NDDC had in the past become a victim and hostage of unwanted attention as all manners of pressure was mounted on you individually and collectively by an avalanche of politicians, local and international contractors, unemployed youth, etc.
Have you developed Corruption Risk Assessment procedures to help you assess risky disruptive behaviour in order to minimize or withstand damaging corrupt practices and demands?
Are NDDC Staff materially better off than the general population they were meant to serve?
How then can we strengthen the culture of institutional integrity, transparency and accountability in its service delivery?
CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen, strengthening the culture of institutional integrity, transparency and accountability in NDDC, or any organization, begins with the individual. YOU.
There is a social contract between you and the people of the Niger Delta, Nigeria and your Creator. Remember that each time you do wrong or omit to do what is right you are responsible for the death in most cases of your countrymen.
However most importantly, the culture of responsibility must begin from the head/top/leadership. In nature the rot in fish begins from the head. The top must be in a position to give direction itself, not only by talking integrity, but walking transparency and accountability.
Your Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU) must be strengthened and empowered to work effectively. They should be assisted to perform their duties and accorded due respect like other Due Process bodies or Units in the Commission. On the part of ICPC, we shall assist you through periodic system reviews and advisories. We shall help train Corruption Risk Assessors who will help you protect your institutional integrity, transparency and professionalism. ####
