Education ministry, NBS tagged ‘high corruption risk’ in ICPC’s integrity report

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has listed 52 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as “high corruption risk” in its latest integrity report.

The ethics and integrity compliance scorecard (EICS) was released on Monday.

The ICPC said the assessment is in accordance with its preventive mandate as outlined in section 6 (b-d) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.

To enhance institutional integrity, the ICPC said it assessed the compliance of MDAs with ethics, integrity, statutes, standards, policies, directives, and regulations.

“The EICS assesses organisational and corporate ethics and compliance culture, integrity and fidelity of public systems, to mitigate their fragilities,” the report said.

“The EICS was developed as an evaluation tool on probity, integrity, and accountability while combating abuse and corruption in government MDAs.

“The instrument assesses MDAs’ previous year’s activities using three main indicators and twelve sub-indicators.”

The selected public agencies were accessed on three main areas of management, financial and administrative culture, and administrative systems.

The 2022 deployment exercise was conducted from April 19 to August 26, covering MDAs’ activities for the year 2021.

The report said 360 MDAs were selected for assessment, but of the number, 260 responded (168 within the FCT and 192 federal MDAs across the states).

EDUCATION MINISTRY, NBS, PENCOM SCORED ZERO

Not less than 52 agencies were non-responsive and scored zero in ranking. They include the ministry of education, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the court of appeal, and the National Centre for Women Development.

Others are the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Population Commission and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

The agencies were listed as “high corruption risk” and the ICPC said it is monitoring the management, operations and projects of such agencies to ensure probity and accountability are instilled in them.

The ICPC noted that the refusal of some MDAs to participate and release required documents may be an attempt to cover up fraud and misconduct.

“The reluctance and supposed lethargy may not be unrelated to attempts by such MDAs to cover up fraud, malfeasance and other administrative felonies by the leadership and management,” Bolaji Owasonoye, ICPC chairman, said.

“Failure of these MDAs to respond to simple demands and requests by regulatory agencies for reviews or tools to improve their operational practices and systems denotes cogently the impunity cloud which pervades some segments of our polity and governance.

“Steps are being taken by the ICPC to address this nonresponsiveness and indifference through investigation, system review, and other law enforcement interventions.”

MINISTRIES OF PETROLEUM, JUSTICE RANKED LOW

Agencies that scored below 30 include the National Commission for Colleges of Education (30.75%), National Commission for Museum and Monuments (29.93%); ministry of petroleum resources (29.55%); Federal High Court of Nigeria (28.73%); and the Bureau of Public Procurement (20.40%).

Other MDAs that scored below 20 are the ministry of justice (18.95%) and the Police Service Commission (15.78%).

NDDC, DMO RANKED BELOW AVERAGE

Agencies that scored below average include the Niger Delta Development Commission (49.95% ); Debt Management Office (49.70% ); Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (49%); National Institute for Education Planning and Administration (48.55%), and the ministry of power (46.15%).

Others are the ministry of finance (42.45%); the Nigerian Football Federation (42%); the ministry of information and culture (37.25%); the ministry of health (35.60%); the ministry of water resources (35.50%) and the ministry of labour and employment (32.48).

NATIONAL LOTTERY SYSTEM, ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY TOP LIST

The report showed that 181 agencies scored above average.

The highest-scoring MDAs include the National Lottery Trust Fund (86.05% ); the ministry of environment (87.78% ); National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency Kaduna (85.46%); National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (82.60% ); State House, Abuja (82% ).