ICPC MEMBER GETS AU APPOINTMENT

A member of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dame Julie Onum-Nwariaku, has been appointed member of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption. Mrs Nwariaku is the only Nigerian in the 11-man committee set up by the African Union at its 16th ordinary session of the assembly held in Addis Abbas, Ethiopia in January this year.

Other countries represented in the advisory board are Ghana, Kenya, Malawi Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa, Burundi and Ethiopia. The African Union in a letter with reference number BC/OLC/24.12/4088.11 and dated February 28, 2011, indicated that Nwariaku and others would serve for two years and shall be eligible for re-election for one more term after the expiry of the first term.

In the letter signed by Mr Ben Kioko, Legal Council/Director of the AU, explained that the board 'is charged, inter alia, in terms of Article 22 of the African Union Convention on preventing and combating corruption, with the promotion of and the adoption of anti-corruption measures on the continent.'

The board is also expected to collate and document information on the nature and scope of corruption and related offences in Africa as well as advise government on how to deal with the scourge of corruption and related offences in their domestic jurisdictions.