Wale Ibrahim, Lokoja
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has tasked religious leaders to inculcate behavioural and attitudinal change among their followers to strengthen the fight against corruption in the country.
Commissioner in Charge of Education in the Commission, Alhaji Ashiru Baba, made the call in an interview with newsmen, on Tuesday, in Lokoja, on the sideline of a two-day training for Imams and Muslim clerics.
Baba who delivered a paper titled: ‘Corruption: Definition, Cause and Effects’ at the training organised by Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society and the Just Foundation said the menace must be fought to standstill for the country to advance.
He explained it was important to note that corruption transcends pecuniary issues such as stealing of public funds, giving and accepting bribes to anything that smacks of lack of integrity.
According to him, these included among others, sex for marks in institutions of learning, rigging of elections, frustrating the process of investigation, pilfering of contributions and offerings meant for churches and mosques, collecting money from corrupt politicians to pray for then and more.
He said that corruption had permeated all strata of human society like cancer would to the human tissue with the aim of breaking and destroying the body.
He however attributed corruption and corrupt tendencies to greed and avarice, societal expectations, Peer- pressure and excessive discretion.
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Others are weak sanctions, poverty, porous systemic operations, lack of genuine fear of God, eroded and distorted traditional values.
He described corruption as a major challenge to governance as it undermined the ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) “because resources meant for education, health, rural infrastructures and electricity are diverted for personal use.
“For instance, between July and September, 2017 ICPC recovered the total sum of N93,114, 747.86 from State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) in 20 States of the federation.
“On September 19, 2018, ICPC returned the sum of N7.5 million to the management of Kaduna Polytechnic as TETFUND un-utilsed local and foreign training grants recovered from 11 teachers.
He noted that the menace had constituted a major disincentive for foreign direct investments and increased the propensity for under-development, discredited institutions, instability, insecurity and unemployment.
He hinted that more than 99 per cent of the nation’s 200 million population believed in one religion or the other and therefore urged religious leaders to champion the cause of good governance by influencing attitudinal change in the worshippers through their preachings.
