By Abiola Olawale
The Government of Namibia has reached out to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to seek their expertise and support in strengthening its country’s anti-corruption initiatives.
The Namibian government said it recognized Nigeria’s pivotal role in spearheading the fight against corruption in Africa, expressing a keen interest in leveraging Nigeria’s significant achievements in combatting corruption.
This was contained in a statement posted on the ICPC’ss website on Saturday.
The Namibian government’s decision was disclosed by Mr Humphrey Geise, the Namibian Ambassador to Nigeria when he visited the ICPC headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
In the statement, Geise was quoted as requesting that the ICPC and EFCC provide training to Namibia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
He explained that the country would love to learn about the success story coming from Nigeria, especially in the recovery of stolen assets by the ICPC and its sister agency, the EFCC.
Geise was quoted as saying:
“The fight against corruption is taking a new dimension in the continent, and we believe Nigeria should lead in sharing its expertise in the fight against corruption, and we hope it will open its doors to other African countries like Namibia to learn.
“We feel ICPC and the EFCC should be able to go the extra mile to share their remarkable achievements. It’s not good for Namibia to go outside the continent to learn this.”
In his address, the ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, appreciated Geise’s presence during the launch of ICPC’s Strategic Action Plan 2024-2028, just as he reiterated that the fight against corruption on the continent cannot be fought in isolation.
Aliyu said: “Those who indulge in corruption have their networks. So, we, too, at the continent, need to come together so that we can distort the illegal methods. By doing so, we’ll have good governance and a vibrant foreign-direct investment on the continent.
“We are aware of the MoU signed by my predecessor, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, I wish to reiterate that our doors remain open for any assistance that the Namibian Anti-corruption Commission may require from us. We have our own Anti-corruption Academy where we train people, I believe when your people come, we can also learn from them as well.”
The New Diplomat reports that the ICPC and the EFCC in Nigeria have been actively engaged in combating corruption. These two anti-graft agencies have successfully recovered numerous misappropriated government assets and secured convictions.
