The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), and Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) have emerged top performers in the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) 2024 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS), scoring above 80 per cent.
A statement issued on Thursday by the ICPC’s spokesperson, Demola Bakare, said the report was followed a nationwide assessment of 330 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to the report, the Supreme Court, Nigeria Press Council (NPC), and Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), among others, obtained zero points in the integrity test.
It added that Federal University of Agriculture Umudike, Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Federal Polytechnic Ede, Osun State, and the University of Ibadan, Oyo State also scored zero points.
The ICPC decried the poor performance and raised concerns about accountability in those institutions.
Bakare said the commission, through the evaluation, examined ethical standards, corruption prevention measures, and governance practices of the organisations.
He added that the key areas included leadership and management, financial management, and policies related to ethics, education, and whistleblower protection.
“The EICS serves as a preventive tool used to assess and enhance the compliance of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) with ethical standards, policies, and anti-corruption measures.
“The objectives of the initiative are to identify organizational gaps and provide actionable insights; advise the government on policy development for oversight; promote self-evaluation and remedial actions within MDAs; and establish an objective rating of MDAs to foster improvement,” he explained.
However, Bakare noted that the report shows that none of the 330 government agencies evaluated achieved perfect compliance. Instead, the agencies fell into various compliance categories: 29.55 per cent showed significant compliance, 51.62 per cent had moderate compliance, 15.91 per cent demonstrated weak compliance, and 2.92 per cent failed to comply.
The ICPC identified common weaknesses among the agencies, including a lack of policies to protect whistleblowers, alabsence of strategic plans and ineffective inventory management, including failure to conduct regular internal audits and delayed or missing financial and audit reports.
The commission lamented that these gaps undermined the MDA’s ability to operate efficiently and transparently.
The report however highlighted various achievements made by the ICPC chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu SAN, within one year in office as reported by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) on Wednesday, December 18.
“NewsNGR reported on Wednesday, December 18, that the ICPC secured 16 convictions and tracked 1,500 projects valued at N610 billion in one year.
“The ICPC chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu, a senior advocate, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, December 17, during his first anniversary in office.
“He said that in the past year, the commission processed 851 petitions, fully investigated 95 cases, and filed 72 cases in court, securing 16 convictions.
“He added that the agency recovered over N29.7 billion in cash and made significant progress in tracking government projects nationwide.
“Besides, Aliyu stated that the commission recovered N10.986 billion in value-added tax (VAT) and remitted it to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
“The commission also finalized the forfeiture of assets valued at N2.5 billion and blocked the diversion of public funds amounting to N5.8 billion,” the statement said.