The Kogi State Government has reiterated its readiness to combat corruption in the society as it assures the ICPC of its absolute commitment to partner the organisation to fight corruption.
This was stated in Lokoja, Thursday, by the Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo while receiving the ICPC Commissioner in charge of the State, Mr. Chile P. Ogwuegbu (Esq) who led a delegation of ICPC Staff to his Office on a sensitization tour.
The ICPC Commissioner thanked the Ministry of Information and Communications for granting the request of the Commission to visit the Ministry.
He said the objective of the visit is to seek collaboration with the Ministry being the communication voice of Government and to also urge the State Government to set up Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit in every Ministry, Agency and Parastatal.
Responding, Mr Fanwo told the ICPC Officials that the Kogi State Government under the leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello has done better than any of the previous administrations before it in building “internal anti-corruption combat systems to ensure probity and accountability”.
He commended the ICPC for devoting attention to preventive rather than enforcement measures against corruption.
He said, “Corruption is a terrible sin against humanity and development and must be fought with dynamism and seriousness. I want to challenge the ICPC to continue to focus on prevention rather than chasing about , corrupt people who must have wrecked an unimaginable havoc on the people.
“Governor Yahaya Bello has zero tolerance for corruption and will continue to treat it as a social pandemic that must be fought and defeated for our nation to move forward.
“We are ready to collaborate with ICPC in any area that we can prevent corruption. I can assure you that we will set up our Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit and also support our staff to attend the Anti-Corruption Academy.
“As a Government, we are already planning Anti-Corruption Clubs in our Schools in order to create a generation that abhors corruption. We must not lose the war against corruption”.
The ICPC Commissioner later went ahead to sensitize the Information and Communications Ministry’s staff on what constitute corrupt practices and the position of the ICPC Law on each of the offences.
