PACAC, NOA collaborate on corruption fight

The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called for collective efforts in the fight against corruption.
Prof. Sadiq Radda, Executive Secretary of PACAC, made the call on Wednesday during a stakeholders meeting in Minna.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting with the theme: Value Orientation and the Fight Against Corruption had participants from government, traditional and religious leaders, women and youths representatives and security agencies.
Radda said that the meeting was to sensitise stakeholders to take up the fight against corruption from federal level to state and local government.
“The Federal Government has been trying to stop corruption and what state and local governments need to do is to complement such efforts by ensuring that the fight is extended to state and local government levels,’’ he said.
Also, Dr Yahaya Gbongbo, State Director, NOA in Niger, said the agency has been in the forefront of advocating for value reorientation among Nigerians to have a country free from corruption.
In his remarks, Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger called for attitudinal change among Nigerians, adding that corruption had become endemic in the country.
Bello, who was represented by Alhaji Mohammed Sani, the state Commissioner for Information, noted that his administration was committed to eliminating corruption through the recent staff screening to flush out ghost workers in the civil service.
“We might not be able to completely eliminate corruption, but we will continue in our efforts to reduce it,’’ he said.
Prof. Femi Odekunle, Chairman of the Occasion and Member, PACAC, said that for the country to be free from corruption, the fight must begin from the leaders by ensuring that those at higher cadre were appropriately sanctioned.
“If the leadership are sanctioned promptly, this will have effect on the lower cadre of the society and it will reduce corruption to the barest minimum,’’ he said.
Similarly, Prof. Etannibi Alemika, Member, PACAC, in his paper presentation titled “Imperative of Fighting and Defeating Corruption in Nigeria’’, said that corruption has engendered several social, economic and political crisis.
He said that corruption has undermined development, security, unity and cohesion in the country.
Alemika noted that there was need for cultural and value reorientation among Nigerians as well as the political will to combat corruption in all tiers of government.