Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhamamdu Buhari has ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to go after Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) yet to be on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The Acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, had reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to fully implement the IPPIS before the end of October.
He gave the order at a two-day National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector and presentation of integrity award jointly organised the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
President Buhari also presented awards to Mr Bashir Abubakar, ACG, Nigeria Customs Service and Mrs Chibuzor Josephine Ugwu of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, for exhibiting exemplary acts of integrity in the performance of their duties.
Abubakar rejected a $412,000 (N150 million) bribe offered to him by drug traffickers to import 40 containers ladened with Tramadol.
It was reported that the Comptroller and his team refused the bribe and seized the 40 units of 40ft containers laden with Tramadol and other pharmaceutical products with a Duty Paid Value of N7.3 billion.
Briefing reporters following the development in November 2018, the Comptroller General said, “the rejection of N150 million bribe presents a picture of a reformed NCS whose operatives are increasingly putting national interest above selves.”
He is currently the coordinator, Border Drill Operations (partial border closure) sector 4 (North West) headquarters in Katsina State.
Ugwu, a woman who was working as a cleaner at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, had stumbled upon a pile of cash while she was cleaning the toilet.
In 2006, while working with Aero Contractors as a casual staff and earning N12,000 a month, Ugwu found and returned N10.2 million at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
On December 23, 2014 she found and returned the dollar equivalent of N8 million at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos while earning a monthly salary of N7,800 as a cleaner with PATOVICKI Cleaning Services.
On December 27, 2014 she found and returned the equivalent of $7.3 million at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
On January 23, 2015 she found and returned $12 million at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
On February 20, 2019 she found and returned N200,000 at GAT local airport, Lagos.
She was employed on the 6th of October, 2015 by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Grade Level 07 and she is currently on Grade Level 08.
The ICPC chairman said by her exemplary honesty, Ugwu is truly a living embodiment of integrity, a model that many should strive to emulate.
