Nigerians live in abject, inexplicable poverty - ICPC boss

[Richard Akindele]

THE chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, has said that millions of Nigerians today live in gross and inexplicable poverty.


Justice Ayoola stated this at the annual public lecture of the Law Students’ Society of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. He noted that many families and children went to bed hungry while many more were homeless.


He said many worked full time yet lived in poverty, adding that poverty should not just be discussed daily in offices and at symposia, but must be tackled decisively.


“Transparency and integrity should be the foundation of that strategy and focus. Until we imbibe a national culture of integrity, our war against poverty is futile�, Justice Ayoola said.


The ICPC boss, whose lecture was on “Corruption: The past, the present and the future: Any hope for sanity?� said there was an urgent need for a national integrity revival.


He said corruption made Nigeria to abandon other sources of revenue and depended heavily on oil with concomitant unstable revenue. According to him, the ICPC had created a national anti-corruption volunteer corps as a national mass movement to mobilise, educate and enlighten the people on corruption and expose the corrupt and their corruption.


He called on Nigerians to engage in activities that would restore the nation to the path of integrity and transparency, revive confidence in the country and brighten its prospects.
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