By Ikenna Asomba

The President of Ndigbo Lagos and a member of the 2014 National Conference, Prof. Anya O. Anya, Monday, expressed concern that there was a huge deficit of integrity in the country, pointing that the nation at this critical point needed leaders of integrity to move forward.

Professor Anya made this remarks in Lagos, while being conferred with the African Leaders of Integrity Merit Awards (ALIMA), by Proven Integrity Communications Network (PICN), publishers of Integrity International Magazine (IIM).

Eminent Nigerians who graced the event were the President, South East South South Professionals of Nigeria (SESSP), Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju; former Group General Manager (Finance & Account), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chief Cyprian Nwuba; Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, Bethel Living Limited (BLL), Chief Dominic Ekesi; Legal Adviser, Ndigbo Lagos, Zik Obi; President/Editor-in-Chief, IIM, Onwordi Onichabor; Head, International Operations and Relations, IIM, Dr. Joseph Ododo; Secretary, Abiriba Communal Improvement Union (ACIU), Elder Uche Okonkwo among others.

Receiving the award, Anya who also advised the youths to imbibe the values of integrity, said: “I am really happy to accept this honour conferred on me today. However, my first inclination was not to accept it because the whole idea of honours and awards have been bastardized. But after doing an investigation about the Proven Integrity Communications Network, and looking at some of the questions I asked, it gave me sufficient confidence that they are trying to do a good job. As there is strong deficit of integrity in our country, it is important to focus on it. If focusing on integrity means that I become a sacrificial lamb for that purpose, I accept the honour as well as the burden.”