Corruption: FG Moves To Reawaken Code Of Conduct Culture Across Public Service
The Federal Government has declared that ignorance among public servants is a major enabler of unethical conduct, unveiling an aggressive public enlightenment drive to reposition the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, as a frontline preventive institution.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, sounded the alarm in Abuja while receiving the Chairman of the CCB, Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello, and his delegation, stressing that many civil servants remain dangerously unaware of the Bureau’s full mandate beyond asset declaration.
“Too many public officers know little about the Code of Conduct Bureau. That gap in knowledge is a risk to accountability, and it must be urgently closed,” the Minister declared.
Framing corruption as a failure of both awareness and enforcement, Idris insisted that the government’s strategy must shift from reactive punishment to proactive prevention.
According to him, the Bureau’s core mission is not to chase offenders after the fact, but to stop violations before they occur.
“The CCB is not designed to hunt down offenders alone; it is fundamentally a preventive institution. If we get awareness right, we reduce the need for enforcement,” he said.
The Minister called for a sustained, nationwide sensitisation campaign, warning against one-off engagements that fail to create lasting behavioural change.
He emphasised that only continuous collaboration between institutions can embed a culture of integrity across Nigeria’s public service.
“Enforcement without awareness will not deliver compliance. The two must work together if we are serious about ethical governance,” he added, pledging the full deployment of the Ministry’s media and communication agencies to amplify the Bureau’s work.
Earlier, CCB Chairman, Dr. Bello, reinforced the Bureau’s preventive mandate, describing it as a watchdog committed to stopping corruption at its roots rather than merely prosecuting offenders.
“We are not just an enforcement body—we are a preventive institution focused on ensuring public servants never stray into corrupt practices,” Bello said.
He revealed plans to deepen collaboration with the Information Ministry through nationwide sensitisation campaigns, strategic media engagement, and targeted capacity-building programmes aimed at boosting compliance and strengthening ethical standards.
Bello expressed confidence that leveraging the Ministry’s communication infrastructure would significantly enhance public awareness, improve adherence to asset declaration rules, and entrench a culture of transparency and accountability across government institutions.
The high-level meeting drew key stakeholders, including the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Ogbodo Chinasa Nnam; Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Press Council, Dr. Dili Ezughah; and other senior officials, underscoring the government’s renewed resolve to confront corruption through knowledge, prevention, and institutional synergy.
