African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), a non-governmental organisation, has called for greater participation of community-based organisations (CBOs) in the fight against corruption.
The group said that its findings indicate that there are many corrupt practices in communities, especially in the execution of projects.
The coordinator of the NGO, Dr Chido Onumah stated this in Awka, Anambra State, at the weekend, during a one-day town hall meeting held for leaders of communities, community-based organisations and heads of anti-corruption agencies.
Speaking at the meeting with the theme, Role of Community-based Organisations in Entrenching Whistleblowing at the Grassroots, Onumah said community members must inform the authorities of corrupt practices around them.
He said: “Whistleblowing has proven to be the most direct method of exposing corrupt acts. We are both morally and legally bound as citizens not to keep silent or acquiesce to any act of corruption or wrongdoing whenever we see one.
“Today, our mission is to make the CBOs, which have an enduring presence in the communities, a formidable collaborator in disavowing the negative culture of silence and embracing the more rewarding attitude of speaking out in the face of anything that could potentially harm or endanger their environments.
“We all are aware that corruption thrives in multiple forms in our communities, but most visibly in the misappropriation of funds and abandonment of projects that could bring development and meaningfully turn around the lives of the people.
“AFRICMIL will work with the CBOs to galvanize the mass of the people at the grassroots to adopt the culture of blowing the whistle by reporting these and other corrupt acts, as a way of fighting corruption in the country.”
During the meeting, most participants relayed first-hand experiences of how they uncovered corrupt practices by government contractors in the communities.
The event was also attended by south coordinators of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Oshodi Johnson and Kennedy Ebhotemen respectively.
