The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu has initiated a collaboration with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to strengthen ties and align efforts to rid Nigeria of corruption in the public sector.
This collaboration was agreed on today when the ICPC Chairman, in the company of the management team of the Commission, paid a courtesy on the Acting Chairman of CCB, Barrister Aliyu Murtala Kankia in Abuja.
Speaking at the occasion, Aliyu stated that the visit was borne out of the desire of the Commission under his leadership to work with relevant stakeholders to achieve giant strides in the federal government’s renewed hope agenda of fighting corruption.
ICPC boss further stressed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had an honest commitment to the fight against corruption and that this could be achieved through collaboration and partnership with the CCB, which he described as the most powerful and important anti-corruption agency in Nigeria recognised and mentioned in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
According to the ICPC Chairman, “The collaboration is in furtherance to consolidating and improving on an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two agencies. There are many things that both Agencies could do together to move this country.”
In his words, “I know that there is an existing MoU between us, and we want to improve on it and harness resources within our reach to work efficiently for the common good and benefit of our nation. Whenever you need anything from us, please do not hesitate to reach out to us while we will also do so from our end”, he said.
In his remarks, the Acting Chairman of CCB, Kankia stated that the visit was a step in the right direction as the fight against the menace of corruption required cooperation and understanding as displayed by the ICPC Chairman and his team.
He added “The visit signifies friendship, understanding and cooperation to come together to a common goal in the fight against corruption. CCB is the creation of the Constitution that speaks on giving and taking, conflict of Interest, asset declaration and assets verification”.
He expressed the readiness of the Bureau to continue to forward relevant cases to ICPC as it had always done based on findings in carrying out their assignment on assets evaluation and assessments of public servants.
According to him, “You can rely on us. We have the tools that will help your work and as we have always done, we will share relevant information with you to help your work. CCB also categorizes offences and forwards to appropriate anti-corruption agencies”.
Kankia called on ICPC to work with the Bureau in the aspects of trainings especially on investigation as that will equally help them in their work.