Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Government has inaugurated a civil service anti-corruption committee to forestall sharp practices in the sector.
The state set up the mechanism in collaboration with the European Union Rule of Law and Anti Corruption (EU ROLAC) with members drawn from different ministries in the state civil service.
Inaugurating the 84- member committee on Monday at the office of the Head of Service (HOS), the HOS, Theodora Igwegbe, urged the committee members to live up to expectations, stating that the fight against corruption must be won.
She reminded the members that each of them as strategically chosen was to ensure that corrupt practices were totally eradicated from the civil service.
Igwegbe, who is also the Chairman of the steering committee of anti-corruption committee noted, “It behoves on members to ensure that corruption is sniffed out and reported so that necessary punitive measures can be taken against the perpetrators.
” We assure EU ROLAC that the programme will be sustained in the state knowing full well that the state government has zero tolerance for corrupt practices.”
Speaking, the State Coordinator of EU ROLAC, Mrs. Josephine Onah, outlined the roles of the group to include working towards the eradication of indiscipline and corrupt practices within the service.
Onah noted that with a drastic reduction in corruption, the state would become a first choice investment destination and a one-stop shop for investors.
She admonished the committee members to eschew any form of compromise, encouraging them to always follow organisational framework by reporting issues first to the ANSACS Secretariat which would review and then move the case on to the steering committee for commensurate disciplinary action.
Onah noted that periodic checks by the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee were made up of state actors and the civil society organizations.
Earlier in their remarks, the Head of ANSACS Secretariat, Tessy Obuekwe and a member of the ANSAC Secretariat, Lilian Oguji, described corruption as not doing things the right way, charging members of the committee to eschew any form of corrupt practices as they had taken the lead in the fight against corruption in the state civil service.