Civil Servants in Nigeria have been urged to imbibe the culture of transparency, discipline and accountability in the discharge of their duties.
Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan made the call while declaring open a one-day in-house Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit, ACTU, Sensitisation Programme for Directorate Cadre Officers GL. 15-17 in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties Office, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Engr. Farouk Yusuf Yabo, the Head of Civil Service said the sensitisation programme was to raise awareness and identify existing gaps in the Anti-Corruption initiatives.
Yemi-Esan explained that the Federal Civil Service has for long been challenged and constrained with efficient and effective discharge of its duties due to myriad of problems, especially corruption.
“We have to make deliberate efforts to address the menace of corruption that has continued to portray Nigeria in a bad light,” she said.
She reiterated that the Federal Government, through the OHCSF had considered and approved the request of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the establishment of ACTU in all Ministries, extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The Head of Service further emphasised the strategic roles of ACTUs and the need to promote openness and discourage all forms of corrupt tendencies, amongst Civil Servants.
However, the only Officer Overseeing the office of the Director, Service Delivery in the OHCSF, Mr Abdulkarim Guam stated that the present administration is consistently striving to ensure the establishment of institutional frame works that will drive the Administration’s mantra for change and transparency in the Public Service, as the surest way to reducing corruption.
He explained that one of such measures is to constantly remind Public Servants to shun corruption in all its ramifications and have a change of attitude, as well as take pride in rendering service to the nation.
In his presentation, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Chairman, Professor Bolaji Owasanye, represented by Head, Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation System Study and Review Department of the Commission, Mr Olayinka Aiyegbayo, disclosed that the mandate of ACTU is to review, on periodic basis, the systems, procedures and operations of public institutions, in order to ascertain institutional vulnerabilities that engender corruption.
Applauding the OHCSF for putting the together the Programme, the ACTU Chairman in the OHCSF, Mr Chukwuka Anthony, urged Civil Servants to be agents of change in the discharge of their duties, as well as good ambassadors of the Service and Nigeria at large.
Lateefah Ibrahim
