A charge has urged the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Crimes Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to wake up from their institutional slumber and monitor the financial dealings of Local Government Councils in the country.

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) lamented that the apparent compromise or institutional lethargy by the ICPC and CCB is responsible for the offensive scale of grand corruption at the local government councils especially regarding the operations of the states/local governments joint accounts.

Relatedly, the rights group applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a Director General for the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr. Joe Ari, that has manifested an uncommon exhibition of respect and strict adherence to ethical codes of conduct for public officials and transparency code in the running of that federal agency.

HURIWA recalled that news report stated that ICPC had ranked the ITF first for ethics compliance and integrity amongst 352 Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Speaking on the increasing scale of corrupt practices at the local government councils, HURIWA through its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Ms Zainab Yusuf, tasked both the ICPC and CCB to work out strategies for carrying out effective oversight of the financial transactions of the local government councils because, according to the group, it is the collapsed state of social amenities at the Local Government Councils created by the total non-existence of good governance standards at that third tier of government that has made millions of Nigerian families absolutely poor.

“We believe that the ICPC and the CCB may be colluding with state chief executives so the vicious circles of fraud, disappearances of local government allocations from the federation accounts have continued to expand in leaps and bounds just as it noted that rural poverty which results from local governments’ deeply entrenched political corruption has become a grave threat to national security which must be checked by the institutions set up to inculcate andenforce laws on transparency and accountability in public offices.

HURIWA stated that there is absolutely no need for President Buhari to issue an Executive Order to bring into being the financial autonomy of the third tier of government had it been that both the ICPC and CCB were up and doing with their statutory mandate of fighting corruption of all ramifications.

“We wonder why the ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau have both become miserable toothless bulldogs that stand by whilst the common wealth belonging to the citizens at the grassroots are stolen by governors and their foot solders posted like colonial tax collectors by governors to their local government councils against section 7 of the constitution and democratization of local council.

HURIWA said the reason for the governors violating section 7 of the 1999 Constitution was to enable them post their “boys and mistresses” as administrators to continue to perpetuate the continuous heist of the council funds and they are getting away with these crimes against humanity because the institutions of ICPC and CCB that should effectively check and stop the financial leakage may be benefiting from the financial bonanza.

HURIWA reminded the Code of Conduct Bureau Act in Section 2 and 3 of code of conduct Bureau authorised it to effectively monitor the finances of local councils.

Besides, HURIWA said the law empowers ICPC to eradicate Local Councils grand-scale corruption by virtue of the enabling law in Section 6 (a-f) of the ICPC Act 2000 sets out the duties of the Commission.