THE Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) says a total of 138 government agencies it assessed do not have functional asset verification units.
This, according to the commission, translates to about 45.3 per cent of the 360 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) surveyed by the ICPC in its 2021 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS).
The project, launched in 2015, was developed as an evaluation tool by the anti-graft authority to grade the MDAs on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to ascertain their level of compliance with institutional ethics and integrity requirements.
The methodology contains 12 questions covering three main indicators and 12 sub-indicators that highlight the ethics and compliance activities of the public sector.
The survey was carried out physically across 174 MDAs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while virtual deployment was conducted in 186 MDA’s outside FCT
According to the report, about 138 MDAs of the 360 surveyed federal agencies, or 45.3 per cent, do not have effective Assets Verification Units.
The commission said the development violates the government directive instructing MDAs to create to establish the department.
“138 MDAs of 45.3 per cent of the number assessed do not have functional and effective Assets Verification Units in contravention of government circular directing MDAs to establish the unit,” the report said, adding that 148 MDAs lack effective reporting mechanisms for concerns like corruption.
The report said the figure falls at 49.65 per cent of the total 360 MDA’s researched in the 2021 EICS scorecard, while 169 MDAs or 56.7 per cent of the MDAs assessed do not have policies or codes regarding the acceptance of gifts, donations, hospitality and therefore not enforced.
These shortcomings, the report said, constitute “true routes for receiving gratification under the guise of presents” and “hostility” by employees at the identified MDAs.
The ICPC said the leadership of the MDAs must maintain Needs Assessment files and procurement plans and conduct needs assessment preparatory to procurement, and ensure procurement comply with procurement legislation like the Public Procurement Act 2007, work with the Procurement Planning Committee and Tenders Board.
