By Adedapo Adesanya
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has initiated a collaboration with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) aimed at strengthening ties and aligning efforts to rid the country of corruption in the public sector.
The ICPC spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, said this in a statement on Friday, in Abuja.
Mrs Ogugua said the collaboration was agreed on when the ICPC Chairman, Mr Musa Aliyu in the company of the commission’s management team, paid a courtesy visit to the Acting Chairman of CCB, Mr Aliyu Kankia in Abuja.
The ICPC boss said 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.
Mr Aliyu stressed that President Bola Tinubu has an honest commitment to the fight against corruption and that this could be achieved through collaboration and partnership with the CCB.
He described the body as the most powerful and important anti-corruption agency in Nigeria recognised and mentioned in the 1999 Constitution.
“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 can do together to move this country forward.
“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 we will also do so from our end,” he said.
In his remarks, the acting chairman of CCB 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.
“The visit signifies friendship, understanding and cooperation to come together for 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,” Mr Kankia said.
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.
“You can rely on us. We have the tools that will help your work as we have always done, we will share relevant information with you to help your work.
“CCB also categorises offences and forwards to appropriate anti-corruption agencies,” he said.
Mr Kankia called on ICPC to work with the bureau in the aspects of training especially on investigation as that would equally help them in their work.
