Stakeholders in Nigeria’s governance and development sector have said that a recognition and reward mechanism are critical tools in building a performance-driven civil service that delivers citizen-centred results.
They said this at the 9th edition of the Integrity Icon Summit and Awards held in Abuja on Thursday.
Executive Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mr Friday Odeh, said that promoting integrity in public service is essential to rebuilding trust and strengthening Nigeria’s system of governance.
He said that the initiative is designed to celebrate ethical public servants whose work demonstrated honesty, professionalism, and impact.
He said the programme implemented in partnership with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He added that it is aimed at shifting accountability away from fear and punishment, towards incentives, norms, and results.
“Today is about recognition with purpose; What we choose to celebrate in our society defines who we are, what our public institutions become, and the kind of society we want,” he said.
Odeh noted that recent surveys revealed that when integrity is ignored, ethical public servants become isolated, but when named and famed, it becomes a standard others aspire to meet.
“We identify public servants whose choices under pressure produced evident outcomes for citizens, and we make those choices visible by telling their stories,” he added.
Also speaking, Mrs Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison (rtd), said that Nigeria must entrench ethical leadership, fairness and measurable performance standards across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
She said that this must be done in order to reverse declining public trust and institutional inefficiency.
She explained that in spite of several policy reforms, Nigeria’s public sector continued to struggle with bureaucracy, weak institutions and a legacy of systemic challenges which dates back to decades.
Ibifuro-Harrison listed key challenges affecting service delivery, to include outdated processes, limited digital infrastructure, weak enforcement of policies, politicisation and low morale among civil servants.
Quoting the Africa Polling Institute’s 2025 Social Cohesion Survey, she said that distrust in institutions remained widespread, with 79 per cent of respondents expressing little or no trust in the judiciary.
She emphasised that the civil service was not lacking in dedicated officers but in systems that recognise and reward excellence, integrity and ethical conduct.
She, however, harped on the need for recognition to go beyond annual ceremonies to a sustained system that provides platforms and support for ethical officers.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of BureBPSR, Mr Dasuki Arabi commended Accountability Lab Nigeria and its partners for sustaining one of the country’s most credible citizen-focused accountability platforms.
He noted that the Integrity Icon campaign had grown into a movement which identifies and celebrates exemplary public servants.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the awards was earned by CSP Mathias Nuhu (Akwa-lbom Police Command, Safer Highway Patrol), an Mrs Oluwashola Shobayo (Lagos State Office of Internal Audit).
Others are: Mr Kumafan Dzaan (Benue State Bureau of Statistics BSBS), Mrs Ann Ejulle Itodo (Government Senior Secondary School Apo, Abuja) and Col. I.A Manga (Nigerian Army, FCT). (NAN)
