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Mr Tahiru Imoro, the Zabzugu District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Northern Region has indicated that fighting corruption in the country requires a collective responsibility of the citizenry.

He said any act of corruption must be considered as the misuse of the entrusted powers assigned to duty bearers for their private gains, which calls for a collective responsibility of the citizenry to participate actively in fighting corruption to aid in development.

Mr Imoro said this at separate durbars in the Zabzugu District as part of the second phase of the Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP II) campaign to promote good governance to end corruption.

He said duty bearers, especially within government institutions were required to demonstrate a high level of transparency in the discharge of their duties, subject to scrutiny using appropriate laws while being answerable to the fiscal and social responsibility assigned to them.

The exercise organised by the NCCE with support from the European Union (EU) held a total of 10 community engagements, while undertaking 40 activities under the ARAP II programme to create public responsiveness to hold duty bearers accountable.

The exercise dubbed: “Citizens for Transparency and Accountability” covered Artisan groups, Women groups, Religious groups, Traditional authorities, Opinion leaders, Persons with Disabilities, (PWD’s), Educational Institutions and Unit Committee/Assembly members.

The communities were sensitised on the pre-requisite knowledge to promote good governance to fight against corruption and improve accountability as well as being compliant to the rule of law to aid in nation building.

The one-month exercise forms part of the commission’s efforts to have wider engagements to empower the citizenry in the fight against corruption, while employing dawn to dusk broadcast communication at the various communities.

Participants at the various communities were sensitised on the various aspects of corruption, including; fraud, misappropriation, nepotism, smuggling, money laundering, rigging of elections as well as embezzlement of public funds.