Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has charged the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, to evolve functional strategies and initiatives to tackle corruption and improve governance at the local government level.
He gave the charge in Abuja yesterday at a two-day national workshop and Official Flag-off of Anti-Corruption Preventive Tools entitled: War Against Corruption at Grassroots held at the EFCC Academy.
Olukoyede who spoke through the Secretary to the Commission, Mohammed Hammajoda, charged participants to leverage on their collective wisdom, experiences, and insights to forge strategies and initiatives to strengthen the fight against corruption through transparency and accountability in local government administration.
“As we delve into the discussions over the next few days, let us leverage on the collective wisdom, experiences, and insights of our distinguished guests and participants. Together, we can forge strategies and initiatives that will not only strengthen the fight against corruption but also enhance transparency and accountability in our local governance structures”, he said.
He called for radical improvement of governance at the grassroots, maintaining that only determined efforts against corruption would offer Nigerians a new lease of life.
In his opening remark, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, ALGON, Odunayo Ategbero says preventing corruption is better than cure, pointing out that a bottom-top approach in tackling corruption would offer meaningful development to Nigerians. “Therefore, the third tier of government, which is the local government, is where corruption can be effectively prevented because prevention is better than cure”, he said.
He further stated that “the fight against corruption and other societal ills bedeviling our country is the collective responsibility of everyone in our society. Therefore, a forum like this is needed to create awareness for all and sundry to tackle corruption headlong”. He tasked the EFCC to enforce the fight against corruption at all levels of governance in Nigeria.
Minister for Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Zaphaniah Bitrus Jisalo, commended the initiatives of the EFCC and ALGON concerning the workshop.
He called for robust discussions, exchange of ideas, and proper implementation of resolutions at the end of the workshop.
Several dignitaries thronged the opening ceremony of the two-day workshop. One of them, Senator Shehu Umar called on the EFCC to maintain regular vigilance on the activities of both state and local government officials across the country. He also called on managers of local government to collaborate more with the Commission through intelligence sharing aimed at combating corruption at the grassroots.
The two-day workshop targeted at local government chairmen, coordinators of development area centers, local government secretaries, heads of personnel management, treasurers, local government auditors, council speakers, and other workers is expected to leverage their mobilization and sensitization for accountable and prudent management of resources at the local level.
