ITF wins ICPC rating on ethics, corruption

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF), has emerged the 2020 winner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), rating of the most ethics-compliant and integrity Agency.

ITF beats other 352 Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as surveyed by ICPC to clinch the winner.

The result of the survey was announced during the 2nd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector in Abuja.

Reacting to the rating, the ITF Director General, Joseph Ari said the Agency is elated by the honor, pledging to continue to abide by ethics and procedures while running the affairs of the Fund.

According to him: “We are encouraged by the news of our rating as the most compliant MDA. I am not entirely surprised as we have always administered the Fund on the path of financial integrity and in compliance with all governmental regulations and processes and shall continue to do so especially in light of dwindling finances as a result of the coronavirus pandemic which is negatively affecting MDAs.

“But beyond mere adherence to governmental regulations, we have repositioned the Fund’s operations with emphasis on improved service delivery, and have also escalated the number of Nigerians trained through our skills intervention programmes. The rating shows that our efforts have not gone unrecognised,” he said.

However ICPC has said all MDAs that did not meet up with its scorecard will be

classified as corruption high risk Agencies and have been listed for further inquiries and actions by the Commission.

Our correspondent reports that other parastatals that gain ICPC rating are University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Federal College of Education Kano, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), and Raw Materials, Research and Development Agency among others.