The Federal Government will build human and material capacity to boost the fight against corruption, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, said yesterday.
He spoke at a two-day national conference on anti-corruption, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).
Ribadu, represented by the Special Adviser (Legal) in the office of the NSA, Mr Anthony Oluborode, said the government would reform the civil service to equip it to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy, reduce inefficiency and waste.
He said,
“There is a need to build the capacity of investigators to enhance the use of world-class flexible, tried and tested templates, which the government is committed to.
“However, we will continue the process of weeding out ghost workers as well as ghost project expenditures from the system.”
Ribadu stressed the imperative of public accountability, adding that authority and discretion without accountability could easily lead to corruption.
HEDA chairman, Olarenwaju Suraju, said the present administration was yet to take a definite direction in the anti-corruption war.
“If we want to go by what has been happening so far in terms of the fight against corruption, we can’t for now, say that we have any good reason to believe that there is going to be any serious fight against corruption,” he said.
Also yesterday, Ribadu advised the Acting Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun, to synergies with other security operatives to tackle the insecurity bedeviling the country.
He spoke when the IGP and other top police officers paid him a courtesy visit.
The NSA expressed pleasure at the improvement the Acting IGP has made towards sanitising and repositioning the policing system in Nigeria.
He said the IGP put the right foot forward from inception.
Ribadu urged Egbetokun to “prioritise improved synergy with other security agencies to achieve the goal of the present administration while pledging his full support for the attainment of better policing and enhanced security for all and sundry in Nigeria”.
The Acting IGP congratulated the NSA on his well-deserved appointment, acknowledging his assurance to ensure national security stability and growth via inter-agency diplomacy and an all-inclusive safety mechanism.
