Buhari swears in Bolaji Owasanoye as ICPC chairman

ABUJA, Nigeria – President Muhammadu Buhari today swore in Chairman and members of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission(ICPC). Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye was sworn in as chairman of the commission. While swearing them in, Buhari congratulated them for finding it worthy to serve Nigeria. Your appointment is a call to service in an important sector and segment critical in our government’s agenda.

“Today’s occasion is the continuation of this Administration’s fight against corruption. It is a cardinal programme in the three point agenda that I promised to pursue and will continue to pursue as I seek the mandate of Nigerians for a second term. The fight against corruption is an existential issue for Nigeria. This is why I have often said – if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.

“We are all witnesses to the damage that unbridled corruption has inflicted on our development aspirations. Apart from deliberate and wanton looting of our national wealth and common patrimony, corruption has eroded our values and ethical foundation as a nation. Corruption has negatively affected our political, economic and social life”, he said, adding that those opposed to the fight against corruption berate his administration for “our focus, determination and single mindedness. They pretend that they do not know what corruption is. But Nigerians know what corruption is. Ordinary people know what corruption is and they support our effort and determination to fight it”, he said.

According to him, the abuse of public office for private gain represents corruption in its worst form and that the circumvention of public policies and processes for competitive advantage and profit is another form of corruption.

“The abuse of public office for personal benefit even if no bribery occurs is also corruption. The diversion of State revenue or misapplication of budgeted funds falls into the same category. I am particularly delighted that the ICPC law under which you will operate is robust enough to assist government to sanitize the public sector of corruption in service delivery, public procurement, diversion of public revenue, deliberate misuse of public funds, and so on.

“As I have noted in recent times, despite our anti-corruption drive, some agencies of government still divert or refuse to fully account for revenue generated. Rather than obey constitutional provisions and extant rules and regulations, such agencies continue as if nothing has changed. We are determined to ensure that every agency of government account for public revenue generated or expended. I am looking forward to ICPC’s support both for enforcement of anti-corruption laws and submission of policy measures and directives to prevent revenue leakage and diversion”, he said, and called on the ICPC to collaborate with other government agencies such as the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation towards mitigating wrong-doing in public expenditure.