AT a workshop of 514 participants, consisting of Vice-Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts or their representatives; Registrars, Bursars, Directors of Academic Affairs/Academic Planning, Directors of Physical Planning, Directors of Works, Chairpersons of Committee of Deans of Universities, Colleges of Education and Polytechnics, representatives of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and other critical stakeholders have agreed to deal with corrupt practices bedevilling the tertiary institutions.

The workshops organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, ACAN, the training arm of ICPC on July 6-10, July 27-30 and August 3-6, 2015 in  ICPC Auditorium, Abuja was on Academic Integrity and Entrenching Integrity in Procurement Process of Tertiary Institutions.  Resource persons were drawn from among practitioners and experts conversant with the issues and proven records, including facilitators from the Bureau of Public Procurement, Abuja.

The workshops were organized with the support and co-operation of major stakeholders in the Nigerian tertiary education system including the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), Council of Heads of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology in Nigeria (COHEADS), and the Committee of Provosts of Nigerian Colleges of Education.

The objectives of the workshops were to build the capacity of Nigerian tertiary institutions to develop a culture of integrity in their academic processes, expose participants to corruption prone areas in academic processes, and develop options and responses for tackling academic corruption in the institutions.

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It was to significantly reduce, and ultimately eradicate, corruption in the procurement process of tertiary institutions by building the capacity of the accounting officers, procurement professionals and other senior managers of the institutions concerned with procurement matters, in procurement practices and procedures, understanding of the public procurement law and the penalties for infractions, and building their capacity to eradicate corruption in procurement matters at the institutional level.

At the workshops, participants observed that corruption in any form is unacceptable, but corruption in tertiary institutions strikes at the very heart of the future of the country and, as such, should be tackled with vigour by all stakeholders concerned. Moreover, it was agreed  that Academic Integrity is “adherence to a state of high moral principles and professional standards and values in scholarship especially in teaching, learning and research.” Embodied in this definition is honesty and responsibility in scholarship.

In a communiqué signed by the Provost of ACAN, Professor Sola Akinrinade, Chairman, COHEADS (for tertiary institutions)  Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Matazu and the Head, Rapporteur Team Ashiru Baba disclosed that the participants concurred that  Academic Integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of academia and includes: avoidance of cheating or plagiarism, maintenance of academic standards, honesty and rigour in research and academic publishing.

According to the participants, commitment to academic integrity implies commitment to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. They said: ‘’Responsibility for ensuring integrity in academic processes lies with all stakeholders in the system not just the principal managers of tertiary institutions. As such, all academic and non-teaching staff should appreciate their role and play their part.’’

These senior executives in tertiary institutions noted that the central issues in entrenching integrity in the procurement process are understanding “corruption risks” and taking steps to “entrench integrity” at every stage of the procurement process. It was believed by participants that nine steps are critical in the procurement process, adding that any violation of any of the nine could only lead to corruption. ‘’Adherence to all the provisions of the Public Procurement Law is the panacea to corruption in the procurement process,’’ it added.

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Meanwhile, after careful deliberations and thorough scrutiny of the 24 papers presented at the workshops, participants resolved to using the ICPC/NUC Template, individual institutions to assess and document the integrity challenge in the context of institutional peculiarities and challenges. According to resolutions, the self-assessment should be as honest as possible in order to permit the development of appropriate responses at institutional level. Thereafter, institutions should develop and implement evidence-based and robust interventions.

It was resolved that the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria should work with the regulatory authorities (NUC for Universities, NBTE for Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Allied institutions, and NCCE for the Colleges of Education), and with the Committees of chief executives of tertiary institutions (Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Committee of Heads of Polytechnics and Allied Institutions, Committee of Provosts of Nigerian Colleges of Education), to introduce Integrity Ranking for Nigerian tertiary institutions.

Moreover, part of the resolutions by the tertiary executives stated that Nigerian tertiary institutions should develop and sustain a culture of integrity, stressing that a first step should be the development and implementation of contextually-relevant institutional policy or code of academic integrity. It explains that the policy should include institutional definition of academic integrity and clear descriptions of issues which fall under the label. The institutional policy should be widely disseminated and institutions should conduct workshops to  familiarise staff and students with its provisions.