Outgoing Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye has disclosed that the agency successfully investigated 4,705 out of the 6,048 petitions it received during his tenure and recovered N655 billion looted funds and assets in four years.
Owasanoye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, revealed this while giving account of his stewardship at the Executive Summary of the Fourth Board of ICPC.
He also said that the agency successfully investigated 4,705 out of the 6,048 petitions it received during his tenure.
He further said that 85 convictions were secured from the filed 309 cases prosecuted by the anti-graft commission.
The highlights of the recoveries are, N104.696 billion in cash through enforcement and N450.999 billion in restrained, seized and forfeited assets.
Some of the assets he listed include 67 vehicles; 103 landed properties; 690 buildings; 34 businesses; eight farmlands; 80 pieces of jewelry; 19 electronic gadgets and 95 clothing materials; bags and accessories.
Speaking on constituency and executive projects, Owasanoye said 3,485 contracts or items valued at N433.400 billion were tracked.
He said that the agency compelled contractors to return to sites to complete the projects valued at N45.236 billion.
He said the establishment of anti-sexual harassment and abuse desk also defined his tenure.
Owasanoye said sexual harassment in educational institutions can be “rightly described as epidemic.”
He said, “ICPC received reports of incidents of corruption in form of petitions, which are processed and assigned for investigation based on the directives of the commission’s chairman.
“It received a total of 6,048 petitions between 2019 and 2022. But 4,705 investigations were concluded during the period.
“Records showed that 1,934; 1,364; 1,393 and 1357 petitions were received by the commission in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. Investigations concluded were 1,012; 1,079; 1,250 and 1,364 during the same period.
“On the conclusion of investigations, cases that have merit were forwarded to the legal services department for prosecution. The legal department within the period under review filed 309 cases in courts and secured 85 convictions during the four years.”
The senior advocate shed light on how the commission tracked abandoned constituency projects by lawmakers and the Executive arm in four years.
He added, “One of the novel initiatives of the ICPC fourth board is the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI). It was established in 2019 to proactively prevent diversion of public funds appropriated for Constituency Projects (otherwise referred to as Zonal Intervention Projects) nominated by legislators.
The outgoing ICPC boss said, “Prior to the innovation, there had been mounting complaints by citizens over shoddy completion, non-completion or outright non-execution of the constituency and executive projects in spite of huge budgetary releases annually by the Federal Government.
“The key objective of the initiative therefore is to ensure value for money and satisfaction of vital purpose of governance, which is to bring development closer to the grassroots.
“In collaboration with relevant government agencies such as Office of Accountant-General of the Federation, Budget Office of the Federation, Office of the Auditor -General of the Federation, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), the civil society and the media, ICPC through the establishment of CEPTI, has enabled cost evaluation and monitoring of constituency and executive projects across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“This has curtailed diversion of public funds and reduced the phenomenon of uncompleted or abandoned projects across the country. The CEPTI is currently in its fifth phase and has tracked 3,485 projects valued at N433, 400,754,000.40 between 2019 and June 2023.
“The commission through CEPTI tracked 424 constituency and executive projects across 12 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2019; 722 projects across 16 States in 2020, 1,098 projects across 17 States and the FCT in 2021 and 1,241 projects in 2022.
On sexual harassment and abuse, Owasanoye said 13 cases were reported or received from public sources, one was still an ongoing case, two cases charged to court, another case recommended for system review, seven cases receiving administrative action and investigations were closed on four cases.
“By the Sexual Harassment and Abuse Project, ICPC is improving its ability to respond to myriad of cases of sexual harassment via abuse of power especially with regard to educational institutions most notably tertiary and secondary education institutions.
“This is not to suggest that sexual harassment does not exist in other areas of society, but the situation with educational institutions can be rightly described as epidemic.”
