By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged Nigerians, especially those in rural communities, to participate actively in monitoring the implementation of local government budgets and track government expenditures.
Chairman of ICPC Ekpo Nta gave the charge yesterday in a keynote address at citizens’ engagement forum held in Bosso local government secretariat in Niger state.
“ICPC wants Nigerians to have a voice in what goes into the yearly budgets of their local government councils because they know where the shoe punches. They should also have the capacity to monitor the implementation of the budget and track government expenditure,” he said.
Nta said ‘people cannot talk about good governance if they do not have good people in office who are truly ready to serve,” adding that “it is our responsibility as citizens to continue to use our positions either as civil servants, teachers, students, farmers and community leaders.”
He said grassroots participation in governance was key to the promotion of accountability and transparency in government activities, as well as fostering good governance.
In a remark, the chairman of Bosso local government area, Hon. Isa Wakili, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the success in his war against corruption in the country.
He stressed the need for all Nigerians to be agents of change by collectively joining the war against corruption, adding that “this will restore the country to enviable position in the comity of nations.”
Commending ICPC for holding the forum in Bosso local government, Wakili said the Council was ready to partner and support the Commission by ensuring that its sensitisation programmes got to interior villages within and outside the local government.
