Bolaji Owasanoye, immediate past chair of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says some heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) “walked blindly” into corruption.
Owasanoye spoke during a forum organised by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation (AFF), a non-governmental organisation, in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The forum was tagged: ‘Behavioural Change and Conference Exhibition 2023’.
Speaking at the forum, Owasanoye highlighted how lack of administrative experience led some heads of agencies, particularly academics, into acts of corruption.
“And you could see that many of them, walking blind, lacked administrative experience either because they are misled or because they have not read circulars and guidelines that say you can do this, you can do this, you can’t do that,” he said.
“Imagine somebody who hitherto held a global reputation, who won consultancy, earns $20,000, why does he want to come and steal money from an MDA?
“Except somebody has set a banana peel for him to enable them to do what they want to do and they need to put him in that trap. And then, if he refuses, they will orchestrate a petition to ICPC and EFCC.”
Speaking further, he said not all Nigerians are corrupt, adding that the notion that all Nigerians are corrupt must be challenged by anti-corruption interventions.
Owasanoye narrated how the head of an agency who wanted to embark on an international trip, was told that his travel allowance was $900, instead of the approved $600.
He said the official would have walked into a booby trap of official abuse culminating in corruption if not for his circumspection.
“From my experience in leading the anti-corruption fight at PACAC (Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption) and the ICPC, I can tell you categorically that not all Nigerians are corrupt,” he said.
MacArthur Foundation co-partnered the event.
On October 26, the senate confirmed Aliyu Musa as the new chair of the ICPC.