Commission to review staffing structure, deployment and skills to address workforce imbalances and improve operational effectiveness
By Peace Udugba
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced a comprehensive workforce and structural audit aimed at aligning its personnel structure with its anti-corruption mandate and operational requirements.
The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, disclosed this on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, while inaugurating the ICPC Workforce and Structural Audit Committee.
Aliyu said the exercise was necessary to address existing workforce imbalances and ensure the effective deployment of personnel across the Commission.
According to him, the audit is one of the most consequential internal exercises being undertaken by the ICPC, as it will provide a verified basis for determining the appropriate workforce structure, skills and deployment required to effectively deliver on the Commission’s mandate.
He explained that since the establishment of the Commission in 2000 and the recruitment of its first 88 officers in 2002, recruitment had taken place at irregular intervals without a deliberate policy to ensure coherent workforce progression.
The situation, he said, had resulted in workforce imbalances, including a disproportionate concentration of middle- and senior-level officers in some areas compared with personnel at the operational level.
Aliyu said the committee would examine the Commission’s approved structure alongside its actual workforce, deployment and operational needs, with a view to identifying gaps and recommending appropriate interventions.
He stressed that the audit must be guided by evidence rather than assumptions, noting that its recommendations should be based on verifiable institutional records, including case-tracking data, court schedules, petition registers and other relevant operational records.
The ICPC chairman also cautioned against relying solely on numerical ratios in determining workforce requirements, saying the complexity of cases handled by the Commission and the need for specialised expertise must be taken into consideration.
ICPC Must Reflect Law-Enforcement Identity
Aliyu further stressed the need to strengthen the Commission’s law-enforcement culture, saying its institutional identity must consistently reflect its mandate as a law-enforcement and anti-corruption agency.
“The ICPC is a law-enforcement agency, and our culture must reflect that in full. We cannot claim to be law enforcement when it suits us, and conduct ourselves as a core Civil Service establishment when that suits us instead,” he said.
He added that the Commission could no longer project itself as an institution with an identity crisis, stressing the need for consistency in its operations and institutional culture.
The chairman clarified that the workforce audit was not intended to victimise staff or reduce the workforce but to ensure effective deployment, strengthen institutional capacity and establish a merit-based structure capable of supporting the Commission’s mandate.
In his remarks, the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Clifford Okwudiri Oparaodu, DSSRS, commended the chairman for initiating the exercise.
Oparaodu said the Commission must continue to strengthen its institutional capacity and urged members of the committee to give the assignment their best efforts to ensure that its objectives were achieved.
He also appealed to the committee members to support the chairman and the management in finding practical and sustainable ways of strengthening the institution and leaving a lasting legacy for the Commission.
Responding on behalf of the committee members, the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, who is also chairman of the committee, thanked the Commission for finding the members worthy of the assignment.
He pledged that the committee would bring integrity and expertise to bear on the exercise.
