By Kingston Magare
The Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Nigeria Press Council featured in the list of institutions that failed the 2024 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS) test.
According to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) the institutions scored zero points their assessments. Others who performed poorly are the Federal University of Agriculture Umudike, Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Federal Polytechnic Ede, Osun State, and the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
However, institutions like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), and Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) scored above 80 per cent.
The ICPC said the performance by the highly regarded Supreme Court and the others reflected the state of corruption and accountability in the country.
“The EICS serves as a preventive tool used to assess and enhance the compliance of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) with ethical standards, policies, and anti-corruption measures,” said a statement by ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare on Thursday.
“The objectives of the initiative are to identify organisational gaps and provide actionable insights; advise the government on policy development for oversight; promote self-evaluation and remedial actions within MDAs; and establish an objective rating of MDAs to foster improvement,” Bakare stated.
The report shows that none of the 330 government agencies evaluated achieved perfect compliance. Instead, the agencies fell into various compliance categories: 29.55 per cent showed significant compliance, 51.62 per cent had moderate compliance, 15.91 per cent demonstrated weak compliance, and 2.92 per cent failed to comply.
