BREAKING: Fresh Report Identifies Supreme Court, NAHCON, OAU as High-Risk for Corruption

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has identified 15 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) as high-risk for corruption.

The Supreme Court, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) are among those listed.

The ICPC’s latest integrity report assessed 330 MDAs, with 308 successfully evaluated and 15 deemed non-responsive. The report utilized three key performance indicators to measure institutional integrity: management culture and structure, financial management system, and administrative system.

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) topped the ranking with a 89.75 score, followed closely by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) with 89.33 points, and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET) with 88.73 points. In contrast, the Supreme Court, NAHCON, OAU, and other MDAs scored zero points.

Demola Bakare, ICPC spokesperson, emphasized that the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (ECIS) is a vital tool for assessing and enhancing compliance with ethical standards and anti-corruption measures. The report’s objectives include identifying organizational gaps, advising the government on policy development, promoting self-evaluation and remedial actions, and fostering improvement through objective ratings.

The findings revealed that no MDA achieved full compliance, with 29.55% attaining substantial compliance, 51.62% showing partial compliance, 15.91% demonstrating poor compliance, and 2.92% being non-compliant.

Furthermore, the ICPC’s constituency and executive projects tracking initiative exposed cases of corruption, including shoddy or non-execution of projects, project abandonment due to lack of synergy between outgoing and incoming legislators, misuse of government-funded projects on private properties, conversion of project vehicles to personal use, under-performance and contract over-invoicing.

The commission said between 2023 and 2024, it tracked 1,500 projects across 22 states, worth N610 billion.