Justice Minister inaugurates national anti-corruption strategy committee

Justice Minister inaugurates national anti-corruption strategy committee

The Minister of Justice,  Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on Tuesday inaugurated a National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) ministerial committee to check the widespread corruption in both the public and private sectors in the

Speaking during the inauguration, Fagbemi described corruption as one of the formidable challenges to the attainment of the country’s national development goals.

“The scourge which has undermined trust in public and private institutions needed to be curbed significantly in order to enhance effective and efficient service delivery.

He said the committee was set up in line with the anti -corruption stance of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which aims at eradicating corruption, whilst strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of various Anti-Corruption Agencies.

He noted that confronting the issue of corruption requires a collaborative approach in order to guarantee any meaningful impact.

“The committee’s role is not only fundamental to achieving the NACS objective, but to also safeguard the country’s democracy, strengthen governance and promote sustainable economic growth of the nation.

“The move is part of government’s determination to galvanize stakeholders to tackle corruption, through operationalization of the NACS 2022 – 2026.

“It is also part of efforts to ensure implementation of Nigeria’s international obligations, particularly the ECOWAS Protocol on the fight against Corruption which Nigeria signed in 2001, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC) signed in 2003, and the UN Convention against corruption,” he said.

Fagbemi stressed that the Framework for the NACS and its action plan implementation will focus on five pillars which would serve as the driving force with its scope covering both National and sub-national levels of government.

“These pillar are prevention of corruption, public engagement, campaign for ethical re-orientation, enforcement and sanction, and recovery and management of proceeds of crime.

“The NACS action plan  was developed, validated and adopted by relevant stakeholders on the 26th March, 2018.

“At the expiration of the NACS 2017-2021, in November, 2022, FEC considered and approved the extension of its implementation for another period of four (4) Years i.e NACS 2022 – 2026.

“Our role as a committee is of immense importance and essential to the achievement of the NACS vision and mission.

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“In other to ensure successful implementation, NACS has adopted the top to bottom approach, allowing the Heads of relevant Agencies to be drivers of the policy within their sectors and to also allow for cross-evaluation of implementation,” the minister said.

The committee is headed by Fagbemi, with Finance Ministers of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Information, Women Affairs and Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy as members.

Other are the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Chairman, Senate committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Chairman, House committee on Anti-corruption  and Financial crimes and Representative of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not below the rank of Permanent Secretary.