Anti-graft body finds widespread compliance gaps across MDAs, says no institution achieved full integrity compliance
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has identified 13 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as high corruption risk entities in its 2025 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS) report.
The report, released on Tuesday, assessed 357 MDAs across the federal public service, examining their internal controls, ethical standards, financial management systems and compliance with statutory requirements.
The EICS assessment, supported by the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) Effectiveness Index, is designed to serve as a benchmark for institutional accountability, government oversight and investor confidence.
Top-performing and lowest-ranked agencies
According to the report, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) emerged as the highest-performing agency with a score of 91.83, followed by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) at 90.70, and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) with 89.93 points.
At the bottom of the ranking, several MDAs failed to score any points, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the University of Calabar, the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
No MDA achieved full compliance — ICPC
Presenting a summary of the findings, ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, represented by the Director of Systems Study and Review, Olusegun Adigun, said none of the assessed MDAs attained full compliance.
Out of 344 MDAs that fully participated in the assessment:
- 48 MDAs (13.95%) recorded substantial compliance
- 132 MDAs (38.37%) showed partial compliance
- 141 MDAs (40.99%) demonstrated poor compliance
- 23 MDAs (6.69%) fell into the non-compliance category
In addition, 13 MDAs (3.64%) were classified as non-responsive and designated as high-risk institutions.
Gaps in ethics frameworks and strategic planning
The report revealed major weaknesses in organisational ethics and governance structures. According to ICPC findings:
- 169 MDAs lack clearly defined mission, vision and core values understood by staff
- 191 MDAs have no policies governing acceptance of gifts, donations or hospitality
- 102 MDAs operate without strategic plans
- 154 MDAs lack monitoring and evaluation systems for projects and programmes
The commission also found that 289 MDAs did not encourage corruption risk assessments by their ACTUs, while 315 MDAs failed to apply the results of such assessments to decision-making.
Financial management and audit failures
On financial controls, the report disclosed that:
- 99 MDAs lack guidelines for staff advances
- 69 MDAs failed to ensure timely retirement of advances
- 68 MDAs allowed staff to access new advances without clearing previous ones
Additionally:
- 114 MDAs did not submit financial reports to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation
- 40 MDAs failed to remit internally generated revenue as required
- 75 MDAs breached provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act
Audit and accountability concerns were also widespread, with:
- 41 MDAs failing to conduct internal audits
- 96 MDAs not submitting audited financial statements within the statutory six-month period
- 58 MDAs bypassing due process in the engagement of external auditors
Procurement violations widespread
The ICPC report highlighted significant lapses in procurement processes:
- 88 MDAs did not carry out annual needs assessments
- 32 MDAs failed to prepare procurement plans in line with the Public Procurement Act, 2007
- 71 MDAs did not disclose ethics and compliance principles to external stakeholders
- 34 MDAs approved payments without certifying project execution or verifying supplies
- 114 MDAs failed to conduct market surveys
It further revealed that procurement officers in 137 MDAs did not attend any training organised by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) or related bodies.
The commission said 50 MDAs are currently facing petitions or investigations related to procurement and recruitment irregularities.
Legal, operational and digitisation weaknesses
The report also found that:
- 21 MDAs operate without legal instruments establishing their mandates
- 16 MDAs lack documented operational manuals
- 24 MDAs failed to conduct annual performance appraisals, leading to irregular promotions
On digitisation, 36 MDAs still rely largely on manual systems, while 14 MDAs either lack official websites or have not updated them in over six months.
Training, whistle-blowing and code-of-conduct gaps
Further findings showed:
- 144 MDAs lack annual training plans
- 146 MDAs did not conduct ethics and compliance training
- 192 MDAs engaged unaccredited training consultants
Whistle-blowing frameworks were also weak, with:
- 241 MDAs lacking domesticated whistle-blower policies
- 269 MDAs failing to make such policies accessible to staff and the public
The ICPC also noted that:
- 94 MDAs do not have domesticated codes of conduct
- 245 MDAs operate outdated professional codes
- 146 MDAs lack reward systems for ethical behaviour, while existing ones were found to be unclear or misaligned with institutional values
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