Stakeholders in the nation’s fight against corruption, have called for more concerted efforts by Nigerians to win the anti graft war for national growth and sustainable development.
Speaking at a workshop organized by a Civil Society Organization, Accountability Lab, the representative of MacArthur Foundation Mr Dayo Olaide, said integrity predefined a person’s character, conduct or interaction with others, advanced careers and lives of those who hold them with self esteem.
“Positive values help you to build integrity and discern right from wrong, promote justice, promote equality, and makes you take advantage of legitimate opportunities, thus follow the rule of law”, he said.
Mr Olaide advised people to cultivate the culture of integrity and practice what they preached at all times.
Another Speaker, Catherine Angai, defined integrity as the quality of being honest and having moral principles; doing the right thing even when no one is watching.
According to her, when there is no integrity in the society, there is high likelihood of corruption which breeds unfairness, injustice, frustration, lack of trust, shortcuts, increased crime rate and unemployment.
“There is nowhere you will see written that corruption is okay, or anyone that would openly support corruption and yet the problem still persists. We need to normalize integrity in public service and make the behavior of integrity icons to be the acceptable collective behavior.”
In their separate messages, the representative of the National Orientation Agency, Mr Ojo Muyideen and the National Coordinator SERVICOM Mrs Nnenna Akajimeli among others, encouraged citizens to do the right thing even when institutions of Government fail.
Earlier, the Country Director Accountability Lab , Mr Odeh Friday said “The Integrity Icon Team Building workshop was created to discuss issues that border around integrity in the public service and to encourage the icons to continue the good work they do.
The Seven Integrity icons discovered by Accountability Lab , which includes a Police officer, CSP Francis Erharbor, NYSC coordinator for Anambra state, Mr. Aremu Kehinde and the Head of Department for Sociology at the University of Abuja, Dr Igbolo Magdalene among others pledged their commitment to continue to promote transparency and accountability in their organizations.