Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Ministry of Aviation, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are working in concert to fight corruption in the aviation industry.
The partners made strong commitment to that effect at an inception meeting for stakeholders’ on Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) project in the Aviation Sector held at the NCAA Annex training facility in Lagos.
Delivering her keynote address, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Aviation, Hajia Binta Bello said that as part of the overall efforts to engender growth, confidence and transparency in the aviation industry, it is imperative to collaborate with the ICPC to drastically reduce the incidents of corruption in the sector.
Bello, added that the fight was made possible by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the ministry and the Anti-corruption agency in 2014.
The MOU, she explained would allow continuous and sustained deployment of ICPC staff to maintain surveillance at the major airports and infusion of ethical values into professional practices of stakeholders in the aviation sector.
Other benefits of the partnership include, mandatory training at ICPC academy on ethics, professional standards, moral values for officials in the industry and installation of ICPC facilities such as CCTV cameras for the detection of corrupt officers.
She stated also that the collaboration has reduced the activities of touts at the Lagos and Abuja International airports.
She urged the ICPC to sustain the tempo of its surveillance activities at the nation’s airports.
The Director General (D-G) of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman, in his remark said that the Corruption Risk Assessment is to examine the procedure, manuals and other documents of the relevant agencies in a view to identifying corruption.
The D-G expressed his support for the partnership and revealed that four officers are members of Anti-Corruption Transparency Unit, and two had undergone training on anti-corruption crusade.
The Chairman of the anti-corruption agency, Mr. Ekpo Nta (Esq.) called for commitment from all Nigerians to make the anti-corruption drive a success.