The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta has announced the discovery of
67 illegal universities in Nigeria.
He made the disclosure yesterday while presenting a paper on
“Corruption and National Security” at the 22nd Annual International
Conference on African Literature and English Language (ICALEL) at the
University of Calabar.
Underlining the role of the ICPC in promoting national security, he
said the equation was quite simple: “If we agree that corruption breeds
insecurity, then it goes without saying that whatever we do in ICPC
should be seen in the light of promoting national security.”
He said the commission would deal with the operators of those
universities in line with the law of the land, regretting that “some
persons in the society who are aware of such corruption have decided to
keep quiet because they feel it cannot be handled”.
On the symbiotic relationship between corruption and national
security, the ICPC chairman pointed out that that it prevents good
governance, sustainable growth and development. He stressed that
corruption promotes unemployment, low direct foreign investment, and a
poor national image, and threatens the territorial integrity of a nation
if corrupt officials do not ensure compliance with immigration, customs
and excise laws and requirements.
“Corruption thrives in situations where there is little or no
transparency in decision-making processes,” he said. “Wherever public
officials occupying positions that confer major economic or social
benefits, enjoy wide discretionary powers with little or no
accountability, there is tremendous opportunity for corruption.”
Towards shaping national consciousness positively, he disclosed that
his commission has designed programmes to help in checkmating corruption
in the country by supporting the highly effective and strategic
socialization role literature and writers have played and also novel
ideas that will enrich the fight against corruption.
“ICPC is involved in detection, investigation, enforcement,
preventive and education and enlightenment functions in the fight
against corruption,” he said, saying the commission has established
Anti-corruption Monitoring Units (ACTUs) in Ministries, Departments and
Agencies (MDAs), including the universities.
Furthermore, Mr. Nta stated that the commission is actively involved
in system study and the review of corruption-prone processes in
Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and proffering and enforcing new
processes and procedures. ICPC, in collaboration with the National
Universities Commission (NUC), is currently reviewing corruption-prone
processes in all the universities, he said.
Similarly, he said the commission, in partnership with the Nigerian
Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), has developed and
infused core-values into schools curricula for teaching ethics and
civics in primary and secondary schools, including Teacher's Guides.
To that end, he disclosed that that the commission has formed
anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools and anti-corruption vanguards
in tertiary institutions.
“We shall continue to collaborate with the academia to reposition our
society positively,” he said, challenging his audience as individuals
to help sustain the fight against corruption through literary products
which is now gaining worldwide audiences courtesy of film and social
media. “We are prepared to assist in supporting Writers' workshops in
the area of corruption, good governance and integrity.”
Mr. Nta said the “ICPC was at the conference for two major reasons.
The first was to support and acknowledge the highly effective and
strategic socialization role literature and writers have played, and
must continue to play, in shaping national consciousness positively,
while the second reason was to source for novel ideas that will enrich
the fight against corruption and seek new partnerships individually and
collectively from the fold of the writers.”
In a remark, a widely-known writer, Elechi Amadi, congratulated the
English department for keeping the dream of literature burning, saying,
“I congratulate the English department for keeping this up. I know of
many universities that had started something like this but somewhere
along the line stopped”.
On his part, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor James
Epoke acknowledged the English department for putting together a
publication that can be used in tackling corruption through literature.
He advised the participant to shun corruption, stating that it is a thing of the mind and it can be dealt with by individuals.
source: saharareporters
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