The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and 12 other ministries, departments, and agencies of the Federal Government recorded zero in the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.

According to a publication by the ICPC on Wednesday, of the 357 MDAs screened, the NNPC ranks last, scoring zero across all four key pillar indicators.

However, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission was the highest-rated agency, scoring 91.83. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission was 278 on the list with a score of 38.25.

According to the ICPC, the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard was conceived as a diagnostic and accountability tool to strengthen transparency, ethical conduct, and institutional resilience within Nigeria’s public sector.

The scorecard, it said, has evolved into a vital benchmark for measuring compliance across four key pillar indicators of Management Culture and Structure, Financial Management Systems, Administrative Systems, and the Anti-corruption and Transparency Unit, which collectively capture the critical dimensions of ethics and governance within the public service.

For the 2025 assessment year, it was said that the EICS was deployed across 360 target MDAs of the Federal Government. Out of this number, three MDAs were exempted from the exercise, leaving a total of 357 MDAs effectively assessed.

Earlier, while presenting the scorecard on Tuesday, the ICPC Chairman, Dr Aliyu Musa, who was represented by the Director of the Systems Study and Review Department, Mr Olusegun Adigun, said the assessment exposed widespread weaknesses in ethical standards and institutional integrity across government agencies.

According to him, of the MDAs assessed, only 48 (13.95 per cent) recorded substantial compliance, 132 MDAs (38.37 per cent) achieved partial compliance, while 141 MDAs (40.99 per cent) showed poor compliance. 23 MDAs (6.69 per cent) were classified as non-compliant.

“No MDA achieved full compliance,” Adigun said, adding that 13 MDAs out of the 357 deployed for assessment were non-responsive and consequently classified as high-risk institutions.

The Wednesday advertorial showed that the NNPC tops the list of those 13 MDAs classified as high-risk.

Others are the Institute of Archaeology and Museum Studies, Jos; the Federal Civil Service Commission, Abuja; the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Abuja; the Federal Medical Centre, Hong, Adamawa State; the University of Calabar; the Cross River Basin Development Authority, Calabar; and the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River.

It further listed the Federal College of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology, Benue; the National Metallurgical Development Centre, Jos, Plateau State; the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State; the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority, Ilorin, Kwara State; and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State.

The top-compliant MDAs are NUPRC, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, the Bank of Industry, and others.

The ICPC stated that it will continue administering EICS to MDAs. It also threatened to profile MDAs with consistently low scores of non-compliance.

“This is to ensure and encourage MDAs’ compliance with government statutes, policies, and directives to promote integrity, accountability, efficiency, and productivity in government business. However, MDAs with consistently low scores of non-compliance and no responsive status will be subjected to profiling through system studies and appropriate enforcement actions,” the ICPC stated.

The NNPC spokesman, Andy Odeh, could not be reached as of the time of filing this report. Odeh did not answer calls to his phone, nor did he reply to messages sent to him. (PUNCH)

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