From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has revealed that 204 representing 78.46% of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) in Nigeria do not have a whistle-blowing policy.
The ICPC in its Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard for 2022, also disclosed that 74 MDAS representing 28.46% do not have redress officers and dedicated channels for corruption reportage.
According to the Commission, the lack of viable whistleblowing channels hinders an effective fight against corruption in the country.
The scorecard also showed that 25 MDAS representing 9.62% do not have a legal instrument backing up the establishment of such Organisations.
Also, 39 MDAS (15%) do not have instruments for the establishment of a governing board/council while 59 MDAs do not have a board in place.
The absence of a law to back up the establishment of a Board according to the ICPC is a serious gap which may give room for excessive discretionary powers.
“Likewise, MDAs who do not have a board in place in violation of the establishment Act also promote a situation of abuse of power for the Chief Executive since the Board ought to serve as a check on the activities of the Management in the administration of the Organisation.” It noted.
More also, 211 MDAS representing 81.15% do not encourage system study/corruption risk assessment in line with the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU), and ICPC mandate to prevent corruption in MDAs.
90 MDAS (34.62%) did not render annual Audited reports to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAUGF) and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) within the last five months of 2022, while 83 MDAs (31.92%) did not submit audited reports for the last three years.
101 MDAS (38.85%) did not procure their external auditors in line with the Public Procurement Act 2007.
The report also showed that 86 MDAs (33.08%) and 109 MDAS (41.92%) did not conduct an annual needs assessment and market surveys respectively in contravention of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
129 MDAS (49.62%) are shown not to respond timely to requests from stakeholders.
124 MDAS (47.69%) did not have training plans in place, 123 MDAS (47.31%) did not undertake ethics and compliance training in the year under review and 114 MDAS (43.85%) did not train procurement officers on ethics and compliance within the period under review.
The Commission explained that the absence of continuous training on Ethical provisions can be said to contribute to the abuse of ethical standards by the staff of organisations.
Meanwhile, 100 MDAS representing 38.46% do not have domesticated/professional codes of conduct/ethics with sanctions and 117 MDAS (45.00%) do not have a reward system in place consistent with the requirements of the core
