Corruption: Jega wants public servants restricted from taking traditional titles

Prof. Attahiru Jega, former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says public servants should be restricted from taking traditional titles while in service, to curb the high rate of corrupt practices.

Mr Jega made the call on Wednesday at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, interactive session with the Chief Executive Officers of public agencies, on corruption prevention within the public service in Abuja.

According to him, it is an inducement for traditional authorities to give titles to public officers.

The former INEC boss said, “taking traditional title makes public officer prone to corrupt practices and undermine governance as it creates room for pressure to indulge in it.

“How do you create a sense of responsibility for people to recognise that governance in the public sphere, the modern public sphere is about trust, is about responsibility

“It is about utilising public resources for the benefit of the public rather than for self-benefit or the benefit of an isolated community.

“It’s very important to do this because otherwise the pressures will keep coming,” he said.

According to him, the pressures will also tend to be such that many people will be derailed no matter how objective they want to be in discharging their responsibilities.

“I believe that one of the things perhaps we need to do, and this may be a bit controversial, I know that in the past, even under military they tried to do that, but we were not doing it.

“I think we must stop this tendency of public officers acquiring traditional titles while they are in public service because that really adds to the pressure.

“You take a title as a permanent secretary or a director and you go to your community and you have to be very subservient to the traditional ruler who gave you that title.

“They will come to you with demands and because you are a willing servant or agent then you almost always succumb to those pressures and there is no limit.

“Once it starts small, it keeps getting big and there will be no end to it,” he said.

Jega said public servants could take traditional titles after retirement, when there would not be any pressure to commit infraction.