PHCN, Police Most Corrupt Govt Agencies - ICPC Boss

From ThisDay
By Yinka Kolawole in Ilorin

April 18 2006—Power Holding Company of Nigeria  (PHCN) and the Nigeria Police Force  are the most corrupt government parastatals in the country.

Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, said this during an annual lecture organised by the Faculty of Law students, University of Ilorin .

Ayoola, who delivered a lecture titled "Corruption, the Past, Present and Future, any Hope for Sanity?" said both institutions are guilty and they are bad influence to the nation.

He said a recent survey shows that PHCN and the police are very deep in corruption, adding that "it is very bad and sad that institutions like police and PHCN  are neck deep in corruption."

Ayoola said no matter what happened, the police must be encouraged to restore sanity, adding that the nation needs to do a lot before police image could be reclaimed.

He said corruption is a global problem, which must be addressed squarely, and identified corruption to include economic benefits, power or influence including other less tangible interests.

Justice Ayoola said corruption revolved round all strata of the society, adding that there is hardly any institution in the hierarchy of governance that was immuned from corruption, even our places of worship are not free from the ugly trend.

He urged Nigerians to be patriotic and fight corruption to edify the country.