The Dean and Executive Secretary of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACAN), Mr Thomas Stelzer, has called for more capacity building to enhance anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria.
Stelzer made the call on Wednesday when he visited the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN) in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
The academy is run by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).
Stelzer who is on official visit to Nigeria, said that scaling up training in corruption fight in the country would create a resilient anti-corruption system needed to effectively fight the menace.
He said in spite of how heady international corruption can be, the fight against corruption could still be won.
He said that IACAN would explore ways to work with the academy to strengthen capacity of anti-corruption warriors in Nigeria to achieve desired outcomes.
Stelzer noted that Nigeria had introduced lots of national expertise and innovations in the fight against corruption that could be shared by the 189 countries that signed the international convention on corruption.
According to him, although many countries have domesticated the convention, but yet to develop strong normal systems.
“There’s a big gap between the moment and the competition, and this will be all coming with capacity making assistance,” he said.
Earlier, the Provost of ACAN, Mr Olatunde Barawale said that there were many areas it would want to partner with IACAN, especially in manpower training and development to enhance the capacity of citizens in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
“I believe that this particular visit will provide us with the opportunity of tapping from the rich resources of the academy,” he added.
The provost disclosed that the academy had since inception in 2015, trained no fewer than 20, 279 people in more than 200 different programs related to the fight against corruption.
He said that out of the number, 532 were trained in the last six months.
In his remarks, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the Chairman of ICPC said that Stelzer’s visit was in furtherance of an MoU signed in Egypt in 2021.
According to Owasanoye, the MoU involved collaboration on manpower development and other areas.
“Stelzer’s visit is in furtherance of operationalizing that MoU and exploring areas of mutual benefits for IACAN and the ICPC.
“We hope to be able to collaborate with IACAN on some of its training programs and in developing training programs for West African sub region, Sub Sahara Africa and indeed Africa on Anti-Corruption.”
IACAN executive secretary was on arrival taken on a tour of facilities in the academy.
