A Corruption Risk Assessment, CRA, conducted across select Nigerian seaports (Apapa, Tin-can, Port-Harcourt,Onne, Warri and Calabar) by a group of national and international consultants, has been concluded.

At the validation meeting on the CRA report, Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta,. identified the objective of the exercise as aiming to "offer solutions to the corruption-prone processes in the seaport environment," as a means to facilitate trade and increased foreign direct investment.

The risk assessment project identified: ineffective administration practices; weak institutions; security concerns from alienated host communities particularly in the Warri port; and absence of an independent place or institution to report corruption occurring in the ports amongst others, as key factors influencing integrity at the ports.

The ICPC boss stated that the CRA report being presented to stakeholders was in line with the commission's corruption-preventative framework rather than a means to compete for space with other agencies operating in the maritime sector.

Authors of the report, Messrs Constantine Palicarsky and ChibuzoEkwekwuo, noted that the project, initiated in 2011 was jointly conducted by the ICPC, Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms(TUGAR) and Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) with support from the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).