ABUJA (BPSR Report) – The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. D.I Arabi, has emphasized that the conduct of Public Officers must reflect the highest ethical standards, in order to meet the expectation of the publics.
He disclosed this at the Lunch Time Reform Seminar Series, recently held in Abuja.
In his opening remarks, the DG said that the major objective of governance is to provide welfare and security through the day to day performance of Public Servants to the entire citizenry. This can be achieved through transparency and accountability which they demonstrate, by executing the social contracts and the public trust reposed on them.
Arabi described the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as the harbinger and a key agency in the frontline of anti-corruption crusade. He also reiterated that Public Officers are the engine room for the growth of the society.
Speaking, the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Professor Muhammad Isah, who was also the Guest Speaker, explicitly gave an insight into the workings of the Agency and its mode of operation. He said the establishment of CCB dated back to the military Era and had the sole aim of combating the rising spate of corruption in the country. He made public the distinctive roles of both the CCB and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and how the action of one leads to the responsibility of the other.
Prof. Isah reiterated that the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal are two independent autonomous institutions, operating independently; saying, while the Bureau administers assets declarations, gather intelligence, monitor and investigate petitions’ compliance, the Tribunal adjudicates on the cases referred to it by the Bureau before such cases are prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General, being represented by legal officers in the Bureau.
The CCB Chief advised that Public Servants desist from seeing the opportunity of public office as an avenue to sharing the ‘national cake’ which has almost become the norm. He said, it is even worse when Public Officers who are able to loot are honored, celebrated and accorded all forms of recognition while the case is opposite for the honest ones.
Femi Alegbeleye
I.O (SCD)
