The Bayelsa State Government has reaffirmed its zero tolerance for corruption in governance, while cautioning residents against filing frivolous and unfounded petitions before anti-corruption agencies.

Deputy Governor, Dr Peter Akpe, stated this on Tuesday when he received the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for Bayelsa and Rivers states, Dr Ekere Usiere, who paid a courtesy visit to the Government House, Yenagoa.

Akpe said the negative perception that politicians are inherently corrupt was misplaced, stressing that the Governor Douye Diri-led Prosperity Administration remained committed to fighting corruption.

He, however, expressed concern over what he described as the growing practice of filing unjustifiable petitions against individuals and groups, saying Bayelsa had an unusually high volume of such petitions before the ICPC.

According to him, the volume of petition files from Bayelsa at the commission was several times higher than those from other states.

He said: “Our government is a government that believes in zero tolerance for corruption; that is why we are always open to interact with you and other anti-graft agencies.

“Usually, there is this issue of negative perception of politics and politicians. But it is not true that every politician is corrupt. We have a good number of people in politics that are not corrupt. And we believe that a good percentage of them are in this government.”

On the volume of petitions originating from Bayelsa, the deputy governor said: “What we observed was that the heap of files from Bayelsa were 10 times higher than the ones from even Lagos, and 15 more times than the ones from Sokoto and other states.

“That is quite disturbing. More so, most of those petitions were frivolous. From a personal experience, I can tell you that most of the petitions are extremely frivolous.

“While we will never tolerate corruption, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail.”

Akpe assured the ICPC of the state government’s support for initiatives aimed at strengthening public enlightenment and promoting awareness about corruption and the consequences of filing false or unjustified petitions.

Earlier, Usiere explained that the ICPC’s statutory mandate included sensitising Nigerians on the dangers and negative effects of corruption in society.

She expressed concern over the volume of petitions currently before the commission from communities in Bayelsa State, particularly those relating to the management of funds provided under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Usiere said the commission was interested in partnering with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Information to organise sensitisation programmes across the state.

The ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner was accompanied by Assistant Chief Superintendent, Mr Evans Peters; Principal Superintendent, Mr Emmanuel Akpor; Assistant Superintendent, Mrs Tamaraudoubra Ebebi; and Administrative Officer, Mr Frank Yileaziba.

Please follow and like us: