ICPC boss laments deplorable state of East-West road

CHINEDU WOSU, YENAGOA

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Barrister Ekpo Nta  has lamented the deplorable state of the East – West road in the Niger Delta, blaming the poor state of the road on the activities of corrupt government officials during the past government.
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Delivering a keynote address at the Bayelsa State Anti corruption Summit in Yenagoa, the ICPC boss  said he was again confronted on his way from Delta  to Bayelsa by the rot in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs following the shoddy job on the East – West road.

The ICPC boss disclosed that the commission investigated officials of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs which is the ministry handling the East – West road and ordered interim seizure of some properties of some of the officials implicated in the alleged scam on the project.

The Chairman however noted that no amount of punishment meted to corrupt people could atone for the long term effect of their actions on the larger society. “Even if they are jailed for life, will that bring back those who have died on that road through accidents; will that also bring back babies who were born trapped on that road because their mothers could not get to the hospital because of the nature of the road?”

The chairman who defined corruption as the “Abuse of public office for private gain”, frowned at the practice of plea bargaining on issues bordering on corruption, and warned that nobody should ever dare come to his office to plea bargain.

According to him, the best way to fight corruption is to prevent corrupt practices from happening, stressing that the more people are arrested over corruption; it means that anti corruption agencies are not doing their jobs.

He commended the Bayelsa State government for its emphasis on anti corruption , saying it is the first state in the South /South  and South East to apply for an anti corruption body in Nigeria.

Earlier while receiving the ICPC chairman and his entourage to the state, Governor Dickson said his administration was quietly and effectively fighting corruption and craved for partnership with ICPC to consolidate on the successes so far achieved.

Dickson offered to donate an office to the agency  to make its presence stronger in the state, and expressed his determination to reposition the public service in the state.

The Governor who lamented the rot in the state’s public service said the state has a monthly wage bill of N4 billion for civil servants, N1.3 billion for staff of local governments; while salary for pensioners gulp a whooping N500 million monthly.

He attributed the high wage bill to the activities of pay roll fraudsters and announced the setting up of a Certificate Verification Committee and Pension Liabilities and Pension Committee to clean up the system.

Dickson said while the Certificate Verification Committee would screen the certificates of all civil servants with a view to ascertaining those without genuine certificates, the Pension Liabilities and Pension Committee would determine the actual number of pensioners on the pay roll of the state.

The Governor who later gave the two inaugurated committees two months to carry out their assignments in order to sanitize the system from salaries and employment mess.