REFORM TALKS with Enam Obiosio
I read the latest disclosure by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and felt a familiar mix of anger, fatigue, and grim recognition. Over 140 federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) operating without annual ethics and integrity training plans in 2025 is not a technical failure. It is a moral collapse dressed up as bureaucratic routine.
When the ICPC tells the country that most MDAs do not train their staff on ethics, integrity, and compliance, it is effectively saying that corruption in Nigeria is not accidental. It is structural. It is tolerated. It is, in many cases, institutionalised.
This revelation was made in Abuja during the presentation of the 2025 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, delivered on behalf of ICPC Chairman, Mr. Musa Aliyu, by Olusegun Adigun. But the venue and protocol do not soften the substance. No MDA achieved full compliance. None. That alone should have triggered resignations across the public service.
Let us pause on that fact. In an entire federal bureaucracy running into hundreds of MDAs, not one could meet basic standards of ethics and integrity compliance. Not one. This is not about lack of capacity. It is about lack of seriousness.
The scorecard shows that 114 MDAs failed to submit their financial reports to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in 2025. Forty MDAs refused or failed to remit internally generated revenue as required by law. Seventy five MDAs breached the Fiscal Responsibility Act. These are not grey areas. These are statutory obligations.
Every time Nigerians complain that government is broke, that capital budgets are underfunded, that social services are weak, this is the backdrop. Revenue is leaking. Reports are missing. Laws are ignored. And yet the same MDAs return every year asking for higher allocations, bigger overheads, and fresh borrowing.
The deeper rot is even more disturbing. According to the ICPC, 169 MDAs do not have documented core values, mission, or vision statements that staff can understand or internalise. One hundred and ninety one MDAs have no clear policies governing acceptance of gifts, donations, or hospitality. In plain language, civil servants are operating in ethical darkness.
How does an organisation function without articulated values? How does a public officer decide what is acceptable or unacceptable conduct when no standards are set? The answer is obvious. People fall back on discretion, patronage, and personal judgment. That is how corruption thrives quietly, efficiently, and without paperwork.
This is why Nigeria’s corruption problem cannot be solved by arrests alone. You cannot police a vacuum. You cannot enforce integrity where institutions have not defined it. What ICPC’s report exposes is not just misconduct, but institutional negligence.
I find it telling that while some agencies performed relatively well, others that shape the future of the country ranked among the worst. The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) topped the EIC ranking, followed by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Education and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) were among the poorest performers.
That contrast should worry anyone who cares about Nigeria’s trajectory. Education shapes values. Public enterprises manage national assets. When ethics collapses in these spaces, the consequences ripple for decades.
The ICPC also assessed Anti Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs) across MDAs. Out of 357 assessed, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria ranked 37th. That detail matters because ACTUs were created to be internal guardrails. Their uneven effectiveness tells us that even anti corruption structures inside government are often symbolic rather than functional.
I am tired of pretending that this is normal. It is not. In functional states, failure to submit financial reports or comply with fiscal laws carries consequences. In Nigeria, it is treated as a statistic in a report, discussed briefly, and forgotten until the next scandal.
What makes this even more painful is the timing. Nigeria is in the middle of painful economic reforms. Subsidies have been removed. The currency has adjusted. Inflation has bitten hard. Citizens are being told to endure short term pain for long term gain. Yet the same government machinery asking for sacrifice is riddled with ethical indiscipline.
There is something deeply offensive about asking market women, workers, and small businesses to tighten their belts while MDAs cannot even account for revenue or define basic ethical standards. It sends the message that reform is for the governed, not the governors.
I do not believe corruption persists because Nigerians lack laws. We have laws. We lack enforcement, leadership, and consequence. When 40 MDAs fail to remit internally generated revenue and nothing happens, it becomes a business model. When 114 MDAs ignore reporting obligations and no one is sanctioned, impunity hardens.
Ethics training is not a luxury. It is not a seminar box to tick. It is the foundation of public service. In countries that take governance seriously, ethics compliance is embedded from recruitment to retirement. In Nigeria, it is treated as an afterthought, if at all.
The absence of clear gift and hospitality policies is particularly dangerous. That is how bribery hides in plain sight. A gift becomes appreciation. Hospitality becomes access. Favour becomes entitlement. Without clear boundaries, corruption does not look like corruption. It looks like culture.
The ICPC says these reports are meant to promote integrity, accountability, efficiency, and productivity. That is commendable. But reports alone will not save Nigeria. What will matter is what happens next.
I want to see consequences. Not press statements. Not workshops. Consequences. Heads of MDAs that repeatedly fail compliance tests should be named, sanctioned, and removed. Budgetary allocations should be tied to ethics performance. Promotion in the civil service should be impossible without compliance certification.
If Nigeria is serious about reform, ethics must stop being decorative language and become operational reality. Every MDA should be required to publish its ethics framework, compliance score, and remedial actions annually. Citizens should be able to see who is compliant and who is not.
The President talks about discipline. Ministers talk about reform. Legislators talk about oversight. This is where all three must meet. A government that cannot enforce ethics within itself cannot credibly enforce sacrifice on its people.
I am not naïve. I know reforming institutions is slow and difficult. But refusing to act is costlier. Corruption is not just stealing money. It is stealing time, trust, and opportunity. It is why budgets fail, policies stall, and citizens lose faith.
The ICPC has done its job by exposing the truth. The ball is now squarely in the court of political leadership. Will these findings gather dust, or will they mark a turning point?
Nigeria cannot afford business as usual. Not now. Not with debt rising, poverty deepening, and patience thinning. Ethics is not an abstract ideal. It is economic infrastructure. And right now, that infrastructure is dangerously weak.
If we are serious about rebuilding Nigeria, we must start with the simplest demand of governance that those entrusted with public power act with integrity, or step aside.
