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By Emmanuel Adeleke
The chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, has given the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, an ambassadorial badge for his efforts toward entrenching a culture of anti-corruption in the communications industry.
A statement issued on Thursday by the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, said the EFCC chairman presented the badge to Danbatta during a courtesy visit to his office, on Wednesday.
The visit, according to the statement, was to deepen the synergy between the two agencies.
Speaking, the EFCC boss, said: “The NCC, under the leadership of Danbatta has been in the vanguard of promoting transparency and openness with the strengthening of its Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit, in line with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act.
“The ICPC in 2020 ranked the NCC above other departments and agencies of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (MoCDE).
“The NCC topped the list among three other agencies under the ministry, which featured in the intra-ministerial agencies’ ranking in ethics compliance and institutional integrity with 81.15 percent.
“Similarly, the commission led 24 other regulatory agencies to emerge as the most ethically-compliant parastatal among 25 different regulatory agencies assessed in the anti-graft agency’s Ethics Compliance and Integrity Scorecards (ECIS), 2020.
“In 2017, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) awarded the NCC the topmost Platinum recognition for its institutional work processes, courtesy of its robust business organisational structure, policies, and practices that facilitated effective and efficient service delivery.
“In arriving at this conclusion, the BPSR also listed accountabilities and responsibilities for setting Standardised Operating Procedure (SOP) manuals of the commission’s 19 departments as some of the high points.
“In the same vein, the NCC’S Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has been at the forefront of rolling out series of preventive measures in the country, helping in the process to curbing cyber-related crimes.”