It is perhaps not a matter of sheer coincidence that as Nigeria marked her 60th year of Independence from colonial rule, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, was also marking its two decades of existence. Created by an Act of Parliament in 2020, a year after the country returned to democratic rule after long years of military dictatorship.
In the 20 years of its existence, the Commission has passed through three illustrious Chairmen and the fourth in the saddle at this time is Professor Bolaji Owasanoye. The founding chairman was the illustrious the late Hon Justice Mustapha Akanbi, who through his dint of hard work and integrity saw it through its milking and growing years. God rest him well. His tenure was followed by that of the equally respected Hon Justice Emmanuel Ayoola (CON), a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, while the third Chairman, was Mr Ekpo Nta. These three illustrious sons have done their best for the country and the Commission. It is based on their laudable footsteps that Prof Owasanoye is treading by building on their achievements and trying to chart a higher course.
The mandate of the Commission as spelt out in its establishing Act was to investigate and where necessary prosecute corruption and related offences; prevent corruption by examining the systems and processes of public bodies that predispose to corruption and direct or supervise a review of such. In its 20th year of coming on stream, it has been able to do this, although not with a roaring success in the eyes of the public who think fighting corruption is a tea party. These functions have not been easy to achieve, however, within the ambits of the law, it has been able to educate and enlist the support of the public against corruption. Under its mandate, the Commission has in 20 years recorded a number of milestones; some of these include but are not limited to the treatment of over 20, 000 petitions, out of which 5,000 worthy have been worthy of investigation, and prosecuted about 1,000 of such cases.
During its recent anniversary, the ICPC launched the National Ethics and Integrity Policy, which is meant to refocus the sight of citizens to the need to return the country to her earlier observation of simple creed of honesty, integrity and other things that are necessary ingredients of national growth. The Policy which is broadly divided into five sections are meant to guide the populace and the leaders on the path of national ethics and integrity.
The first section which seres as an introduction serves as the opener to lay the background and emphasis on the place of integrity in national growth, and its scope as a way of moving the nation away from the rots of the past.
The second section which threat the issues of framework of the national ethics and integrity policy; is the groundwork of what the policy is all about and why it became necessary to have such a policy.
Enunciating why the policy is important, it says, “The National Ethics and Integrity Policy is necessary to strengthen efforts at positive national transformation. This is possible when all citizens and those who relate with Nigeria imbibe and embody these core values. The country can reach national development goals when we reframe the meaning of the national purpose and adopt frames of mind, attitudes, behaviors, choices and actions based on the demands of national core values.” This is important in the life of any nation because the policy has to set out for the country’s citizens what the national ethic is all about and for them to follow.
A country that has no body of national ethic cannot grow in unity and in any desired direction because the citizens do not see a unified goal in the nation. However, with a national policy and ethics, the citizens would have a direction to follow. This is necessary to save the nation from her ethical values that had been eroded by greed, corruption and lack of national ethos. All these are contained in the country’s constitution and now with a policy to back it up it would be easily remembered by all.
The fundamental principles of what constitutes ethics in a nation like ours is what the third section covers. It says for any one to reside in the country or be called a citizen, there are some fundamental issues that such must subscribe to failure of which would make one not be considered as living within the policy framework. It spells out categorically that: “The National Ethics and Integrity Policy presents basic principles and values that obligate all Nigerians, and everyone who resides within the borders of Nigeria or who relates with the country in one form or the other, to commit to uphold these core values.” Anything contrary to this violates the national value.
Perhaps the most important part of the document is spelt out in section 4 which lists seven core national values. These are: human dignity, voice and participation, patriotism, personal responsibility and integrity. Others are national unity and professionalism.
It goes on to list individual responsibilities under these core values. Under human dignity it says. “Importance of the individual human being, fairness, justice, respect for persons, sense of humanity, tolerance, freedom, equity, acceptance, and care and concern for persons.” This is very fundamental to human dignity and the documents detail explanation of what this means is very important for all citizens to read and imbibe. It emphasizes that this is not new to Nigeria as both major religions in the country recognize the importance of human dignity, and that human worth should never be discountenanced or violated.
It also goes on to list what is considered in the country as important articles of human dignity. These include legal foundations, objectives of the value, participation of all and how to move it forward. Some of these important actions are fair hearing, which is guaranteed to all and should not be denied anyone. It does not end there because it also guarantees protection against retaliation and practical application of value.
Another fulcrum of importance in the policy is the issue of patriotism. This is very crucial to achieve the tenets of the policy because without patriotism it would be hard to get to the promised land of the policy. It defines patriotism as “Love of one’s country and the willingness to defend it. Embedded in this core value are the following sub-values: a sense of nationhood, loyalty, solidarity, national pride, sense of belonging, respect, tolerance, dedication, acceptance, unity, hard work, faithfulness, obedience, civic responsibility, service, respect for constituted authority, respect for national symbols and upholding the spirit, and a sense of the future.” It also sees the issue of sourcing raw materials by manufacturers in the realm of patriotism, this is true. All hands must be on deck to achieve this all important venture.
Now, the crucial question is: how do we achieve and get this important National Policy on stream? The document addressed this important part because it believes that failure to show how to get it done would be a futile exercise. To get this done all those to help achieve are covered.
To be involved in this are the Public and private Sectors, Traditional and Cultural Institutions, Women, Religious Institutions, security Sector, the Media, Grassroots Communities. All sectors of the country both at national, state and local levels are to be involved in achieving these steps.
In all, the unveiling of this important document by the ICPC has shown the way to go for the nation and the only means to achieve national integrity is to go along with it. In the words of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, in the Foreword to the Policy, “It is the hope and expectation of government that all Nigerians will own this document and use it to hold public office holders accountable to the highest level of integrity and ethical behaviour. At the same time we expect that ownership will result in personal responsibility for us all as citizens to act with integrity towards building the nation of our dream. Furthermore, we hope that key stakeholders – religious and traditional leaders and institutions, civil society, private sector, media, youths, and all Nigerians will contribute to the critical next steps of deciding what actions should be taken and by whom towards actualizing the pillars of this framework.”
What words can say this better? We are on track with the National Ethics and Integrity Policy. Nigeria will rise again.