Acting Chairman of the commission, Mr Musa Abubakar, gave the position at an event to mark the 2018 Africa Public Service Day hosted by the ICPC in Abuja on Thursday.
The theme of the celebration is “Combating Corruption in Public Service Institutions through Stakeholder Participation and Promotion of Ethical Leadership to Realise the Objectives of Agenda 2063 and SDGs’’.
Abubakar, represented by the ICPC Head of Administration, Mr Nathan Bako, said that contrary to popular perception, civil servants were more to blame for the menace than politicians.
“There is trading of blame between the civil service and the political class as to who is more responsible for corruption.
“The fact is that if the politicians are strangers to the service, they won’t succeed if we don’t cooperate with them.
“Every single act of corruption will involve one civil servant or the other, and that is the fact, either by way of facilitating the act of corruption or by keeping quiet.’’
Abubakar called on all civil and public servants to live above board in their dealings, adhere to the ethics of integrity and join the fight against corruption.
The ICPC boss decried public apathy in the fight against corruption, noting that the campaign would fail without the active participation of the citizens.
According to him, most Nigerians look the other way when corruption is perpetrated in their presence, only to turn around and accuse anti-graft agencies of doing nothing.
He noted that it was the constitutional responsibility of every citizen not only to report crime, but also to arrest and hand over criminals to law enforcement agents.
“This is why we use this opportunity to invite everyone to join the war against corruption.
“It is very important everybody plays a role, otherwise when we measure the fight against corruption, its failure is going to be mainly because of public apathy,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, lauded the ICPC for its commitment in the anti-corruption fight.
Represented by Mr Olowofoye Olusonji, the Director of Special Duties in her office, Oyo-Ita said the commission’s efforts had yielded results and brought about a turnaround in both public and private mindset.
A senior officer at the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Mr Friday Adejor, called for stronger collaboration between other anti-graft agencies and the commission.
Adejor noted that with offices in every state and Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the country, the PCC was strategic in taking the anti-corruption campaign to the grassroots.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured a road walk involving representatives of various ministries, departments and agencies.(NAN)