Federal Executive Council may approve second phase of NACS soon

Buhari to inaugurate IMC

THERE are indications that the Federal Executive Council ( FEC) may officially approve second cycle of the National AntiCorruption Strategy ( NACS 2022 - 2026) before the year ends.

Also, there are assurances that the long awaited inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari of the I n t e r - M i n i s t e r i a l Committee ( IMC) of the strategy, which is going to be chaired by the Attorney General of the Federation ( AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami ( SAN), will hold soon.

The NACS was created by the FEC in July 5, 2017 to ensure effective service delivery at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAS).

The Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jedy- Agba, disclosed this last Tuesday in her welcome address at the stakeholders meeting in Abuja.

The meeting, comprising Heads of Agencies, members of Monitoring and Evaluation Committee ( M & E) of the NACS and officials of Anti- Corruption Transparency Unit ( ACTU) of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAS) also centered on lessons learnt from implementation of the first phase of the strategy, with focus on pitfalls, hicupps and areas to improve on.

The acting Auditor General of the Federation; the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics of the Ministry ( FMOJ), Mrs. Victoria Ojogbane; Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Implementation of the NACS, Ladidi Mohammed; officials of the Rule of Law and Anti - Corruption ( ROLAC); Component Manager, Uche Emmanuel;

Consultant, Dr. Ada ChidiIgbokwe; Programme Officer, Pwanakei Daka and the head of Transparency Unit on Governance and Anti- Corruption Reforms ( TUGAR), Jane Onwumere, attended the event.

Onwumere disclosed that necessary correspondences, including the reports of surveys have been submitted to the council for perusal and approval, assuring that the hiccups inhibiting smooth running of the strategy, including operations of the M and E committee, would be addressed.

Agba said: “One of the first steps we will take is to ensure the President constitutes IMC, and then, we begin to develop the strategy and action plan. We have to disseminate information and communicate effectively with sub- national entities to help. I think really the major problem or challenge is the lack of a central coordinating mechanism. I realise that I needed to speak to, and also, make definite commitment on.

“So, once the President has constituted the body ( IMC) and it is recognised with a definite mandate you can speak to issues of funding through the IMC.

“I like to say that we also have mechanisms for coordinating the Justice Sector Initiative. I think it is one of the ones that we have, and we are also trying to incorporate that in our planning. We have the Federal Justice Sector Reform Coordinating Committee, and we have done a lot. For instance, we will work to ensure that the administration of the Criminal Justice Act is adopted by various states.

“This is one of the things we can run along with. I think it is the issue of clarity on the role of the Federal Ministry of Justice in ensuring that IMC was properly constituted.”