The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has partnered with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate and prosecute public officials and civil servants accused of corrupt practices.
This was disclosed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who presided over the meeting of PEBEC at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Prof Osinbajo said the direct connection between the agencies will help in achieving the Federal Government’s reform agenda, especially regarding all government MDAs regulating business environment responsibilities.
“There is a lot of talk about high-level corruption and some public officials stealing money, etc; but I think for average Nigerians, the point of contact is really this sort of approvals for ID cards, for passports, customs, officials, police, and so on.”
He stressed that complaints from Nigerians regarding activities and practices in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) bordering on suspected corruption and deliberate stalling of reform efforts submitted on the REPORTGOV.NG portal of PEBEC will be investigated by the ICPC.
“I think that if this collaboration is robust enough, we will be able to kill two birds with one stone; first is improving our Ease of Doing Business, second is our anti-corruption ranking internationally because some of the rankings is a perception index. So, people are simply asked, what is your perception about corruption in Nigeria?
“So, if we work on these issues, we can really do a lot in terms of improving the image of the country, not just in the Ease of Doing Business rankings, but also in terms of the perception of corruption”.
The meeting had in attendance, top government officials including the Ministers of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo; the Ag. Head of Service, Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Esan.
Others include Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd); Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede; and other senior government officials.
