Supreme Court, Hajj Commission, UI Among ‘High Corruption Risk’ MDAs – ICPC

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has identified 15 ministries, departments, and agencies of government (MDAs) as ‘high corruption risk’ in its latest ‘Integrity and Compliance’ report.

The report, released on Thursday, assessed 330 MDAs, with 308 successfully evaluated. 15 MDAs were categorised as non-responsive, while seven were exempted due to government policies.

The ICPC’s ‘Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard’ (EICS) ranked the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as the top-performing agency, with a score of 89.75. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) followed with 89.33, and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET) ranked third with 88.73.

However, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Nigeria Press Council (NPC), the University of Ibadan (UI), and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) were among the MDAs that scored zero points, placing them in the “high corruption risk” category.

The scorecard evaluated institutional integrity using three key performance indicators, including management culture and structure, financial management systems, and administrative systems.

ICPC spokesperson, Demola Bakare, explained that the EICS was a preventive tool aimed at improving compliance with ethical standards and anti-corruption measures.

“This year, 2024, the tool covered 323 responsive MDAs, with 15 MDAs non-responsive and categorised as high corruption risk,” Bakare said.

The objectives of the scorecard include identifying organisational gaps, advising the government on policy development, promoting self-evaluation within MDAs, and fostering improvement through objective ratings.

The report revealed that no MDA achieved full compliance with the assessed standards. Key findings included 29.55% of MDAs attained substantial compliance, 51.62% had partial compliance,15.91% showed poor compliance and 2.92% were entirely non-compliant.

The ICPC also released its 2023-2024 Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Report, which monitored government-funded projects across education, health, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors.

Between 2023 and 2024, the ICPC tracked 1,500 projects worth N610 billion across 22 states. Key findings included cases of shoddy, partial, or non-execution of projects, project abandonment due to lack of coordination between outgoing and incoming legislators, Misuse of project vehicles and conversion of government-funded assets for personal use, and contract over-invoicing and under-performance.

Bakare disclosed that the anti-graft commission recovered N346 million in cash, and N400 million in assets, and saved the government N30 billion through its tracking initiative.

The findings highlighted persistent challenges in ethical compliance and project execution within Nigeria’s public sector, emphasising the need for stricter oversight and accountability.