The Acting Managing Director/CEO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Engr. Sule Abdulaziz has urged staff of the company to join the fight against corruption.
Engr. Abdulaziz who stated this during the inauguration of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit, ACTU, in TCN on Thursday in Abuja, warned that corruption increases the cost of doing business.
He stated that “Corruption as we know it today, broadly covers all forms of abuse of office for private gain. In any form, corruption increases cost of doing business, undermines revenue generating capacity, weakens fiscal regimes, discourages foreign investments, breeds distrust between Government/Organizations and their customers, as well as puts credibility at stake.
“Corruption equally increases the cost of governance, celebrates mediocrity, discourages creativity and creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity.
“In Nigeria today, we all know that corruption has continued to negatively impact our society in several ways. Corruption needs to be properly checkmated, and where this is effectively done, accountability is entrenched and goals more readily achieved with resultant growth of the company, organization and the society as a whole. No matter how we look at Corruption, it is not ethical and we must all rise to the challenge of fighting it by saying no to any form of corrupt practice”, he stated.
Abdulaziz assured the members of the anti-corruption unit that the management would give them all the needed support to succeed, charging them to put in place right processes to curb corruption in the company.
“The committee must note however that achieving success in discharging this responsibility must be based on deliberate and planned effort to fight as well as prevent corruption. Every one of you must therefore believe in the struggle, with keen interest in its success”, he added.
In his remark, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, ICPC, Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye explained the ACTU is an in-house mechanism set up by the Federal Government to prevent corruption within Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
Owasanoye who was represented at the event by a director in the ICPC, Demola Bakare said: “In view of the important role this organization plays in the power sector, it is expected that the staff of the organization would display high level of professionalism and integrity in the discharge of their duties. The ACTU would assist management in promoting this principle if it is allowed to effectively discharge its duties”.
He however stressed that ACTU is not a parallel authority to management, noting that “rather they are to work closely with management to build a reputable organization”.
Speaking after the unit’s inuguaration, the Committee Chairman, Mr. Isa Lawal Mohammed thanked the TCN management for trusting the members with the task, assuring that they would do their best to ensure that goals for setting up the unit are achieved.
Other members of the committee include: O. C. Ochije; Dahiri Gabdo; Ndidi Mbab; Abdullahi Balarabe; Adetola E.O; Bashir Hassan, Mohammed Adama; Abba Godfrey; and Okoro Raymond.
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