Neglecting Public Servants Welfare Could Have Fatal Consequences On Nigeria – Outgoing ICPC Chairman

The outgoing Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Thursday, said neglecting the welfare of public servants could have fatal consequences on the wellbeing of Nigeria as a Nation.

The outgoing chairman said this in his welcome address at a Policy Dialogue on Living Wage and Corruption organised by ICPC-ACAN and Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies

According to him, the policy dialogue on living wages and corruption is necessary in order to take cognizance of the fact that the public service is the vehicle through which governments at all levels deliver a broad range of public goods and services to the people.

Owasanoye said: “The ICPC’s research into the issue of inadequate living wages in Nigeria has revealed that while there have been several minimum wage policies since 1981, little or no attention has been paid to actual living wages for workers, especially, public servants.”

He also explained that: “Invariably, a corrupt public service inhibits the distribution and timely supply of these public goods and services in equal measure to every citizen, thereby marginalising the weaker and more vulnerable segments of the nation’s population.

“Therefore, neglecting a fundamental causative factor like the welfare of public servants could have fatal consequences on the wellbeing of the Nation in general.”

According to him, ICPC’s research also shows that widespread corruption in the public service creates corruption- enabling social norms that make public servants and citizens normalise the expectation and acceptance of bribes while carrying out their statutory duties.

He said: “This practice, where public servants demand (expect and ask) or are supplied (offered and accept) bribes increases the cost of accessing public services for citizens and has been found to be partly motivated and sustained by inadequate living wages and the rising cost of living.”

The outgoing Chairman detailed that corruption that results from poor living wages, comes at a cost to the society.

He cited an example saying, if people are denied quality access to public goods and services, while the government is unable to provide quality and timely goods and services to the people, it leads to “far-reaching effects on the nation.”

He mentioned effects such as: “undermining trust in the government, to perpetuating poverty and income inequality and even fostering general insecurity.

“Within this context, there exists a direct relationship between poor living wages and corruption which then indicates that low wages can make the workforce to be susceptible to corruption.”