Tanko Mohammed, Chief Justice of Nigeria, has vowed that the judiciary would not rest until corruption is stamped out of the country.
He said this during the ”third National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the public sector” which held in the nation’s capital, on Tuesday.
According to him, over 756 corrupt cases were handled in the country between 2020/2021.
He said from January to November this year, 1,144 suspects were convicted of various corruption offences and financial crimes including hundreds of millions of cash forfeitures, along side eight aircraft, seven fuel stations among others.
He also noted that for any nation to prosper, the judiciary must remain independent and insulated from interference.
He also urged judges in the country to desist from giving incessant ex parte orders in order not to project the judiciary in a bad light.
A highpoint of the event was the presentation of the 2021 Public Service Integrity Awards to three distinguished Nigerians.
They are Nelson Okoronkwo, Deputy Director, Legal, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Muhammad Ahmad, Assistant Commander of Narcotics, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Ikenna Nweke, a PhD student, from Imo State, studying in Japan.
Okoronkwo, who was recognised for his consistent acts of integrity in the different ministries where he served, is a committee member on fertilizer distribution that led to the recovery of billions of naira from racketeers with collaborators within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He was credited to have reported corrupt practices that led to the Ogoni cleanup investigation in the Federal Ministry Environment.
As Committee Chairman on Illegal Recruitment in the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the Deputy Director facilitated the detection and removal of over 3000 fake employers from the Service thereby saving the government millions of naira in terms of salaries and emoluments.
The NDLEA officer, Ahmad, was recognised for demonstrating the highest ideals and standards of the public service in the discharge of his responsibilities.
Also a recipient of the Chairman/Chief Executive Award for Outstanding Performance and Integrity, Ahmad recently recovered and declared to his Agency the sum of 24,500 USD offered to him as bribe by a drug baron to compromise an investigation of 27.950 kg of cocaine, worth billions of naira
Nweke, the Nigerian PhD student in Japan, found a wallet containing a very large amount of money and other valuables returned it to the Japanese police.
He declined 10 per cent of the money offered to him as a reward.
The Nigerian, who joined the event virtually from his base in Japan, was recognised for his act of ‘‘honesty and integrity,’’ by President Muhammadu Buhari.
On Nweke, Buhari said: ‘‘I am also happy to note the ICPC special award to Ikenna Steve Nweke, a Nigerian Ph.D student from Imo State studying in Japan.
‘‘He has done Nigeria proud in far-away Japan by displaying traditional Nigerian values of honesty and integrity and returning a wallet containing a very large sum of money and other valuables to the police.
‘‘He also declined 10% of the money found as a reward offered to him.
‘‘I join the ICPC in declaring him ICPC CITIZENS ANTI-CORRUPTION VOLUNTEER GROUP ICON.
‘‘He is indeed an icon and a beacon for our youths. I also congratulate all those to be awarded the ICPC Certificate of Integrity through their agencies.”
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