The Head of Operations, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Port Harcourt zone, Mr Nnaghe Obono Itam, has called for more determined actions towards monitoring of projects in the Niger Delta region.

Itam gave the charge on Tuesday, 28 August, 2018 in Port Harcourt, while delivering a keynote address at a regional conference on Tracking Trends of Corruption and Abandoned Projects in the Niger Delta.

Emphasizing on the need for interest groups to engage in tracking progress of government initiated projects, he stated that, the move would make it difficult for such projects to be abandoned.

He said, “While communities are sadly implicated in the Niger Delta region for abandoned projects, it is pertinent to say that it is communities, where projects are established that have the primary responsibility to initiate social action on projects, by mounting pressure through mass media and taking ownership of the projects in their areas to avoid vandalization.”

“Corruption in abandoned projects is widespread and institutionalised. Beyond what any group can achieve, we must take ownership of the war against corruption to check practices that run counter to accountability and transparency”, he added.

Itam urged Nigerians to engage in whistle blowing as it will help in exposing corrupt individuals in the system.

He said whistle blowers, would be useful in offering information and intelligence to anti-corruption agencies on the execution of projects.

“We may require new legislation and possible criminalization of abandonment of projects for which state funds have been invested as a deterrent for successive governments”, he said.

The conference was jointly organised by Social Development Integrated Centre, Social Action, and the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), in partnership with Mac-Arthur Foundation. The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), also presented a paper at the conference.