President Muhammadu Buhari has been honoured with the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) Global Integrity and Anti-corruption Award of Excellence.

On Tuesday, the president was presented with the award by the chairman, governing council CIFCFEN Board of Trustees, Iliyasu Gashinbaki.

Receiving the award, Mr Buhari thanked the institute for the honour.

“This recognition further imbues in me hope that we will as individuals and citizens of this country begin to live right and imbibe the ideals and ethos of the founding fathers of this great nation,” Mr Buhari said.

He directed anti-corruption agencies and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to continue partnering the institute for the country’s benefit.

Although Mr Buhari had, during his campaign promises, vowed to eliminate corruption in public service, his regime has been widely criticised both locally and internationally for increased corruption rates.

Corruption Perceptions Index 2021, released by Transparency International in January this year, showed that corruption increases in Nigeria.

“In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2021, Nigeria ranks 154 out of 180 countries and territories, falling back five places from the rank of 149 in 2020,” the report said.

“The so-called fight against corruption is really ineffective,” a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, said last December.

“Those who have stolen public funds and who are threatened by the EFCC for prosecution, once they move into the APC (the ruling party), then you don’t hear anything about their prosecution,” Mr Jega said in an interview with Toyin Falola.

Also, last December, top spy chiefs in the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) said the agency had been witnessing a high level of corruption and tribalism under the Buhari regime.

“But we here at the NIA, are seeing these hopes dashed every day due to high-handedness, maladministration, repressive governance, segregation, and extreme impunity.

“It looks like in the Dolphin House, there is no regulatory body like other MDAs. Apparently, it is winner takes all here,” the spy chiefs said in a corporate document seen by Peoples Gazette. 

(NAN)