15th September, 2015
Mr Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says the commission saved the Federal Government about N100 billion in 2014.
Nta made the disclosure while presenting the commission’s 2014 scorecard to the staffers of the commission recently in Abuja.
The report, contained in the commission’s recent in-house bulletin made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the money was saved from ghost workers in federal ministries and parastatal agencies.
The bulletin said that Nta expressed the hope that ICPC’s collaboration with the Federal Internal Revenue Service would tackle tax evasion by some institutions to boost government revenue.
It added that the commission secured more than 20 convictions for various corrupt offences.
It quoted Nta as saying that 62 landed properties were recovered from an indicted staff of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) under its assets forfeiture and seizure drive.
The bulletin said that within the period, the commission beamed its searchlight on higher institutions in Nigeria where it initiated System Study and Review with the aim to prevent corruption.
It said that the commission closed 26 illegal degree-awarding institutions and instituted legal action against their operators.
“Another positive outcome of the system study and review is that students who are sexually harassed by their lecturers can now contact ICPC directly through the commission’s toll-free lines and lodge such complaints.
“A lady at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo, could not graduate for 12 years on account of sexual harassment but was allowed to graduate when the commission intervened,’’ it said.
The bulletin said the commission was also collaborating with other government bodies, including the Ministries of Finance and Aviation and the Nigerian Ports Authority to ensure they achieved their mandates.