PC moves against corrupt officials at airports.

The war to rid the international airports in the country of corruption got a boost yesterday when members of the Project Advisory Committee on the Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) in the aviation sector were inaugurated in the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Aviation in Abuja.

The inauguration was a follow up to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Federal Ministry of Aviation (FMA) last December in Lagos.

A member of the ICPC and Chairman of the joint committee, Alhaji Ozi Salami,  said the collaboration had yielded several gains, which included public enlightenment campaigns against corruption at the airports, surveillance and intelligence gathering activities as well as a sting operation to arrest perpetrators of corruption.

Salami added that reports since the last sting operation showed that there was an awareness of the presence of the commission at the airports and this had reduced impunity.

He said: “There is a need to continue the tempo of the intervention, so that the anti-corruption message will be consolidated.

“CRA is a corruption prevention tool, which works with organizations’ management to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption, proffer recommendations, and develop integrity plans that would strengthen accountability and transparency towards checking corruption and enhancing service delivery.

“It is focused on studying organisational systems and operational environments with a view to addressing identified corruption risks therein. It is pertinent to emphasise that CRA is not a criminalinvestigation, but rather a study of systems with a view to recommend a review to reduce corruption.”