The
Independent Corrupt Practices Commissions (ICPC) Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, has
reiterated his view that “stealing is not corruption.”
Speaking
to a team of The Nation
on Sunday in
Lagos at the weekend, Nta explained that his commission would fare better if
there was a proper understanding of the word corruption.
According
to him, the controversy emanating from the definition of corruption is as a
result of a long entrenched misunderstanding of the vice.
“If you don’t
know what you are fighting then you might be busy fighting other things and
thinking you are addressing the problem,” he stated.
The ICPC
chairman, who has been criticised in the media for saying “stealing
is not corruption”, stated that from the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption (ONCAC) and the ICPC Act, the first item that
falls under corrupt practices is bribery in public and private offices.
He backed
up his views with Articles 15 and 16 of UNCAC and sections 8, 9 and 10 of the
ICPC Act.
He listed
what is considered as corruption under Article 19 of UNCAC and Section 19 of
the ICPC Act as: illicit enrichment, trading in influence etc.
Explaining
what he calls constitutes corruption, the ICPC chairman said: “If
I walk into your office and I say that I have been sent by the president that
this contact you are about to award must be awarded to me and now drop his card
or the president’s card on the table. This is also an
offence under corrupt practice.”
Nta
reiterated that the major function of the ICPC is to check abuse of office by
public office holders and government officials.
Stealing,
he said, falls under the criminal code and should be reported to the police.
He added
that Nigeria cannot operate in isolation of the international definition of
what constitutes corruption.
Nta argued that if
the Commission spends all its time chasing cases of stealing, it will be will
be embarking on a futile operation and failing in its primary duties
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