The Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, CeFTIW – a civil society group, has called for the immediate prosecution of MDAs and Public Officers involved in the padding of the 2021 and 2022 national budgets.
The organisation said the prosecution would serve as deterrence and prevent willful acts of corruption in the nation’s budgeting process.
This is coming on the heels of the recent revelation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that it uncovered infractions in the 2021 and 2022 appropriations acts.
The request contained in a statement signed by the organisation’s Head of Public Affairs, Victor Agi, during the week, insisted that such acts of corruption should not be swept under the carpet.
The statement read in part: “While the Center welcomes this move by the Commission, it equally urged for more preemptive actions by anti-corruption agencies to address infractions by MDAs and salvage the nation’s economy, which is currently on a precipice according to a recent state of the economy report by the Ministry of Finance.
“Although the ICPC boss disclosed that the names of MDAs involved in these acts of corruption would be released to the Committee, we equally demand that these names be publicized for public scrutiny. Public officers who are found to be culpable should immediately be prosecuted to serve as deterrence.”
The statement also called on the stakeholders to strengthen mechanisms that promote transparency and accountability in the public sector.
