The Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission has urged Nigerians to engage in electronic communications that would support its ongoing war against corruption even as it said a toll free dedicated line was being put in place to accommodate such calls and timely response to information provided on suspects.
Giving the advice on Tuesday when he appeared on a live Africa Independent Television programme in Abuja, the Commission’s Chairman, Barrister Ekpo Nta,
said the agency was ready to engage all stakeholders in communication and other information-sharing platform in its efforts to sanitise Nigeria from the embarrassment that corruption has put the country at domestic and international environments.
Nta, who spoke on efforts being made through the nation’s school system to instill discipline and transparency at all levels of administration, including the proposed plan to re-introduce civics into primary school curriculum, said the Commission would continue to encourage all those who share in its vision to do so by opening its doors to them at all times.
When asked to clarify the Commission’s position on some agencies, including civil society organisations, that are creating anti-corruption communication channels to support the war against corruption, the ICPC boss said the Commission was fully aware of their activities and prepared to support as many such agencies that would join forces with it to curb the menace of corruption in the society.
He explained: “We are very much involved in what the civil society, like the SERAP you mentioned, are doing. Not only SERAP, you have the ‘Egunje’, if you google ‘Egunje’, you will find it. You also have ‘I Paid Bribe’ where you can send these anonymous tips, if you wish to be anonymous, about those you feel are abusing the system and I have a dedicated officer who checks that on daily basis. We encourage that.
“When I had a meeting with the students of the University of Ibadan, we encouraged them to send electronic messages. You know the smart phones that we all carry around they are really smart phones. They can record on going conversations and pictures and send to us. We have also put in place a toll free number so that even if you don’t have credit on your phone, call us. We are just fixing the machines so that any time you call there will be an answering machine to pick it up, even late in the night if nobody is taking it.
“We encourage Nigerians to explore these channels of communication such as ‘I Take Bribe’ which anybody can access by just googling ‘I Take Bribe’ on the Internet with a space to reach us. They are not owned by ICPC, they are owned basically by private individuals and organisations like SERAP, which you talked about.
“But we also take a look at them because the current situation in ICPC is that we don’t wait for petitions to come in before we take action. As you are watching, there was a time I was watching your programme and certain issues were raised and you were here live, before the programme ended, didn’t my detectives come here?”
According to Nta, the approach being adopted by the Commission now is preventive in the efforts to curb corruption in the country, hence the primary focus on the schools which, he said, provide the fertile ground for moulding the character of young Nigerians who are the leaders of tomorrow.
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