NAN-H-108
Academy
By Monday Ijeh
Keffi (Nasarawa), Nov. 17, 2016 (NAN) The Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), the research and training arm of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Thursday certified 37 Corruption Risk Assessors (CRA).
Prof. Sola Akinrinade, the Provost of the academy said at the certification ceremony in Keffi, that the certified assessors had undergone eight-week intensive training programme of the academy.
He said that the risk assessors were trained to be able to identify corruption-prone areas in organisations and agencies with a view to proffering solutions to address them.
“There has been a kind of paradigm shift in the war against corruption from enforcement and prosecution to prevention.
“The essence of CRA is to try to understand and identify corruption-prone areas in agencies and organisations and help to proffer solutions to address them.
“It is the people we have trained that are certified to carry out such assessment.”
The provost said the idea was to take the war against corruption to individual agencies and organisations.
Mr Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of ICPC, commended ACAN for the training that resulted to the certification of 37 of the 42 participants that were enrolled.
Nta, represented by Dr Elvis Oglafa, the Secretary to the commission, said corruption risk assessment was a critical aspect of corruption prevention strategy of the ICPC.
According to him, the CRA is an initiative that ICPC is proud of and has been very useful in its operations.
“We are most pleased to report that since the first training in 2012/2013, CRA has been successfully conducted in the port sector, MDG-related MDAs of education, health, water and aviation sectors.
“The integrity plans of these CRAs and others that are in pipeline, when fully implemented by the MDs will bring about the reduction of corruption opportunities in the society,” he said.
The ICPC boss who commended the UNDP for funding the programme urged the assessors to take advantage of the knowledge acquired to contribute their quota in the fight against corruption.
Some of the assessors who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), pledged to take the knowledge acquired from the programme to their various agencies.
Mrs Chidima Amaabo, an assessor who spoke on behalf of the anti-corruption agencies, advocated for extension of time for the programme.
She said the eight-week period was not enough to cover the entire aspects.
Meanwhile, Dr Adeyeye Adewole, said with the training, the participants were better informed of the need to prevent corruption.
Adeyeye pledged to take back the knowledge acquired from the training to his organisation.
NAN reports that participants at the programme were drawn from anti-corruption agencies and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). (NAN)
IMC/AK/NKO
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Edited by Akin Makanjuola