The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Thursday, carried out an anti-corruption sensitisation campaign in Calabar, to eradicate corruption in the nation’s airports.
Speaking at the sensitisation workshop, the Manager, Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, Hillary Umunna said the campaign was a collaborative effort between both agencies to fight corruption both at the airport and in the country generally.
Umunna added that the fight against corruption in the country was a serious business, stressing that they were doing their best to ensure its eradication.
Similarly, the General Manager, Environment Department, FAAN, Mrs Janet Omere, in her remarks, said the campaign was a continuation of the Federal Government’s anti-corruption fight.
In a lecture entitled “Corruption: the Bane of Nigeria’s Public Sector”, Ugonma Ahia, Acting General Manager, Legal Department, FAAN, said the airports were windows through which foreigners enter into the country.
She said aviation workers had the responsibilities of providing effective and efficient service for the safe and secure carriage of passengers and cargo at the nation’s airports spread across the various geopolitical zones.
According to her, they occupy prime positions in the overall wellbeing and survival of the country.
“Airport workers are expected to exhibit high level of honesty, transparency and accountability in the discharge of their duties.
“Our airports are indeed the mirror through which others perceive us as a nation, because first impression matters a lot
“The four-way test for corruption include: transparency, accountability, reciprocity and generalisation.
“These are the questions that one should ask himself because if these tests are observed, corruption will be reduced to the barest minimum,’’ she said.
Ahia enlightened participants on the definitions of corruption, fertilising agents of corruption, common corruption problems in the public sector, corruption offences and punishments as well as measures to be taken to prevent corruption in the society.
Some of the staff members, who spoke during the campaign, called on FAAN to be fair in the area of sending them on training programmes and promotion exercises, saying “charity must begin at home”.
They also urged the organisation to reintroduce what they called “reward measures” to encourage hard working ones.
