WorldStage– The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, says Nigeria will only win the anti-corruption war through hybrid engagement and a national cultural shift toward integrity.
Aliyu, represented by the Secretary to the Commission, Mr Clifford Oparaodu, said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the National Anti-Corruption Coalition (NACC) Summit on Hybrid Engagement organised by the commission.
He described the anti-corruption campaign as a marathon requiring resilience, collaboration and innovation, emphasising that lasting success would come only when citizens embraced integrity as a personal responsibility rather than leaving accountability solely to institutions.
The ICPC chairman said legal enforcement remained important but insisted that corruption could not be defeated through administrative measures alone, urging Nigerians to become active participants in promoting transparency, accountability and ethical governance nationwide.
“Corruption prevention is most effective when citizens are empowered to participate actively in governance processes,” Aliyu said told the hybrid gathering of civil society organisations, media practitioners, youth groups, religious and traditional leaders.
“We are fully aware that institutional reforms alone are insufficient.
“The ultimate success of anti-corruption efforts depends on the emergence of a national culture that values honesty, condemns corruption, rewards ethical conduct, and promotes accountability at every level of society.
“This cultural transformation cannot be achieved by government institutions alone. It requires the active involvement of every Nigerian. It requires civil society organisations to continue advocating for transparency.
“It requires the media to uphold responsible and investigative journalism. It requires religious and traditional leaders to promote ethical values.
“It requires educational institutions to nurture integrity among young people. It requires the private sector to embrace ethical business practices. Most importantly, it requires citizens to reject corruption in all its forms and circumstances.”
Aliyu said the National Anti-Corruption Coalition had evolved into one of Nigeria’s foremost platforms for mobilising citizens, promoting accountability and translating anti-corruption advocacy into practical community-based actions across the country.
According to him, the coalition derives its strength from sensitisation campaigns, policy engagement and social accountability initiatives that encourage citizens to participate actively in governance while demanding greater transparency from public institutions.
The ICPC chairman described corruption as the country’s biggest development challenge, saying it weakens governance and erodes public confidence across public institutions and service delivery systems nationwide.
He added that it diverts scarce resources meant for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other essential public services, thereby slowing national development and worsening inequality among citizens.
He added that corruption disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable citizens by widening inequality, limiting opportunities and slowing national development, making anti-corruption efforts an important component of Nigeria’s broader development agenda.
“The burden of corruption falls heaviest on the poor, deepening poverty and inequality while shutting young people out of opportunity.”
Aliyu said the commission had recorded progress through increased public awareness, stronger transparency mechanisms and growing citizen demand for accountability, but warned that emerging threats continued testing Nigeria’s institutional response capacity.
He identified complex financial crimes, illicit financial flows and procurement irregularities among evolving challenges confronting anti-corruption agencies, describing the summit’s theme, “Members’ Hybrid Engagement for Strengthening NACC,” as both timely and strategic.
According to him, digital technology now provides opportunities for coalition members to coordinate activities, exchange knowledge, mobilise citizens and strengthen advocacy efforts across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He explained that hybrid engagement was not simply about convenience but about improving inclusion, ensuring continuity and expanding the coalition’s capacity to deliver measurable impact through technology-enabled collaboration and grassroots participation nationwide.
Aliyu challenged coalition members to deploy digital platforms more effectively to coordinate activities, amplify advocacy campaigns and document outcomes from community-based accountability initiatives capable of strengthening public confidence in governance.
He urged participants to consider how the coalition could mobilise more citizens, improve coordination, leverage technology, attract young people, strengthen grassroots initiatives and sustain measurable impact across communities nationwide.
The ICPC chairman reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to supporting the coalition through preventive initiatives, including the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative, Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, and Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units.
He emphasised that institutional reforms would deliver sustainable results only if accompanied by a national culture that rejected corruption, rewarded ethical conduct and encouraged accountability across government, businesses and wider society.
Aliyu called on religious and traditional leaders to promote ethical values, urged the media to sustain investigative journalism, encouraged schools to nurture integrity and challenged businesses to embrace responsible corporate practices.
He described members of the National Anti-Corruption Coalition as a vital bridge between government and communities, saying their advocacy, public engagement and commitment would determine the coalition’s long-term effectiveness and national relevance.
Some coalition members pledged continued collaboration with the ICPC, maintaining that corruption could only be reduced through collective responsibility involving government institutions, civil society organisations, communities, businesses and individual citizens nationwide.
The Coordinator of the Civil Military Cooperation Centre, Dr Otaku Adams, described corruption as a major threat to national security and sustainable development, urging stronger partnerships across both public and private sectors.
Adams said corruption cuts across governmental and non-governmental institutions, making collaboration among citizens, civil society organisations and public agencies essential for building an effective national coalition against corrupt practices.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Educational Empowerment and Orientation, Mr DavidCrown Oyebisi, said the organisation continued promoting integrity in schools while campaigning vigorously against examination malpractice and related unethical practices.
He said that the organisation was expanding sensitisation programmes targeting teachers, students, school administrators and parents to strengthen ethical values and safeguard the quality and credibility of Nigeria’s education system.
Oyebisi expressed optimism that the summit would generate practical strategies for addressing prevailing economic and socio-political challenges while strengthening collaborative efforts to combat corruption and other related offences across the country.
Chief Esther Usman-Walabai of Kingdom Global Help Us Against Corruption said the anti-corruption campaign would achieve greater success only when citizens and leaders rejected corrupt practices and consistently demonstrated integrity through personal example.
She advocated a bottom-up approach to anti-corruption advocacy, arguing that grassroots mobilisation would produce stronger community ownership and accountability than policies driven exclusively from the top levels of government.
