PRESS RELEASE
The Code of Conduct Bureau in collaboration with
the United Nations Development Programme UNDP organized a two day
Public Forum for the North East and North Central zones, from Monday
22nd – Tuesday 23rd October 2007 in Jos
Plateau State.
The Secretary of the Code of Conduct Bureau Mr.
Sam Saba in his welcome address stated that Government and Nigerians
are in agreement on the desire to fight corruption in our society.
According to him, the Code of Conduct Bureau is empowered by the
Constitution to enforce the Code of Conduct for Public Officers. He
assured the participants that the forum which is designed to take
place in the six geopolitical zones of the Federation will help
raise awareness on the role and strategies used by the Bureau to
achieve this mandate and the responsibility of the public.
The Executive Governor of Plateau State, Gov.Jonah
David Jang represented by the Honorable Commissioner for Lands and
Survey Plateau State Mr. A. N. Dashen in his keynote address stated
that the state has adopted zero tolerance for corruption and to
facilitate the ten point agenda of the administration.
While
declaring the Public Forum open the Governor challenged participants
to freely deliberate and make suggestions that are
realizable so that together we can enhance
transparency and accountability in Government business.
At the end of the two day public forum
participants discussed and came up with the following submissions:
The National Assembly should expedite
action on the bill before them on Public Access to
Assets Declaration and an open declaration should be
encouraged.
The presence of all Anti-Corruption
Agencies should be felt at the grass root levels for
easy accessibility by the public.
There should be more severe punishment
applied on corrupt public officers to serve as a
deterrent to other public servants.
The Anti-Corruption Agencies in both
the public and private sectors engage in continuous
capacity building and take steps to learn from other
nations of the world with high anti-corruption ratings.
The Nigerian political leaders should
demonstrate a robust and sincere will to tackle the
problem of corruption once and for all since everybody
stands to gain if the rate of corruption is low in the
Nigerian society.
Participants were drawn from the North East and
North Central Zones which include Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau,
Gombe, Kogi, Niger, Kwara , Nassarawa States and the FCT
Iyabo Akinwale
Information Officer
