Nigeria: Corruption In Public Service Driven By Poor Welfare – AUPCTRE Chairman

Kirfi, an Accountability Lab Nigeria’s 2021 Integrity Icon, asserted this on PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, an anti-corruption radio programme produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.
He said that several civil servants are reluctant to display integrity at work due to poverty orchestrated by the harsh economy in the country, stressing that “fear of  poverty may be pushing some public servants into committing atrocities, cutting corners, compromising standards and all sorts of illegalities.”
Kirfi, however, urged the incoming Federal Government to be responsive to the predicament and yearnings of public servants and punish them severely for corrupt acts to deter others.

Explaining what is hindering many public servants from displaying integrity at the workplace, he said, “Issues that make people (civil servants) compromise are driven by lack of good packages to workers, the salaries are not good enough, no provision for affordable housing for workers and some people because of this start thinking of compromising and what you observed now is the cost of living is becoming higher, salaries are not being increased, even when they increase it, implementation becomes a problem.
“If the government can be responsive and responsible to the yearnings of workers, it will be able to hold people accountable for their actions, but you cannot hold people accountable while you don’t provide the basic requirement for them.:
Kirfi called for a change of the curriculum of primary, secondary and tertiary education such that it includes the teaching of integrity as part of the basic principles of foundational training of people in Nigerian society, stressing that very harsh legislation against corruption will discourage government workers from compromising standards.
“The government is supposed to ensure there is legislation and provide good practices for workers that will not allow people to compromise standards easily. On the side of the workers too, there should be a kind of training of men rigorously and just like Accountability Lab Nigeria is doing; identifying, naming and faming good people will encourage public servants,” Kirfi stated.
On his part, Communications Lead at Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mukhtar Suleiman, also urged the incoming administration to increase the salaries of workers in the public sector, as well as do their best to increase internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Suleiman, who urged parents to rise to and do more against moral decadence, emphasized that the lack of integrity among public servants and society has more to do with the failure of parents and the family system.
He urged citizens to hold leaders accountable and participate in governance by asking questions, interrogating government laws and policies and speaking out at all times through every medium available, especially social media.

“Governance is a two-way street, there is government, and there is the governed. We are governed. There are very simple things we can do to ensure we can hold government accountable. We can join advocacy groups whenever we see some. We can go to town hall meetings. If there is a public hearing in the National Assembly, you can walk in there as an everyday citizen; you can draft a memo and submit, and you can easily tweet your concerns,” Suleiman advised.
He assured that Accountability Lab Nigeria would continue working painstakingly to name and fame public servants of integrity. He lauded the collaborations with PRIMORG and other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working towards building a corrupt-free public service and society at large.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program used by PRIMORG to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

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