The Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, says the commission has seized 62 houses from a femal
The Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, says the commission has seized 62 houses from a female public officer. According to him, the matter is in the court and the property will be confiscated by the Federal Government after litigation.
“How would the commission address unexplained wealth by public officers? The commission has a mandate to ask anybody to explain the source of his or her wealth. The commission has the power to issue an interim seizure order to any public officer to explain the source of their wealth.
“Through that order, the commission has seized 62 houses from one female officer, the matter is still in court and the property will be confiscated by the FG after litigation.”
Nta, who spoke on the theme, ‘Transparency and Accountability: A Panacea for Good Governance and Sustainable Development,’ at the Akwa Ibom Anti-Corruption Summit in Uyo on Tuesday, said the anti-corruption war had yielded good results in the country. He cautioned public office holders not to live above their incomes.
Nta said, “There are many facets of corruption in Nigeria. The commission will stop at nothing to bring anyone found to have contravened the anti-corruption crusade to book.”
He noted that the commission had retrieved 40 vehicles that were stolen by some retired directors of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and warned against trivialising the anti-graft war. Nta explained that the commission was prosecuting over 400 corruption cases in different courts in the country, noting that those found guilty at the end of the trial would be made to face the full wrath of the law. He added that the commission had taken a step further by launching the anti-corruption campaign in institutions of higher learning and among the members of the National Youth Service Corps.
He said that an anti-corruption module had long been introduced into the curriculum of the University of Calabar, maintaining that such a measure would go a long way in entrenching moral values in students. Nta explained that the ICPC had inaugurated anti-corruption clubs in orientation camps, noting that such measures had assisted the commission in detecting and arresting about 42 fake corps members at orientation camps recently. The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, lamented that corruption had eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigerian society.
Emmanuel advised all and sundry to be in the vanguard of curbing the menace of corruption if the country must move forward.
“We must change our mindsets about the way we do things in the country,” Emmanuel said.
The governor frowned on what he described as illicit cash running into over $157bn leaving the shores of Nigeria through fraudulent practices. He identified corruption as the greatest enemy of development, noting that the repatriation of illicit funds across Nigeria’s borders to developed nations was regrettable.
He said if such funds were used within the shore of the country, the socio-economic life of Nigeria would have been positively impacted. The governor enjoined all well-meaning Nigerians to join the ongoing crusade to rid the system of corruption and other economic crimes plaguing the country.
Punch
