By Eteteonline
Several government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) violated significant ethics and compliance criteria, according to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission’s (ICPC) 2025 review, which was published on December 24, 2025.
The ICPC’s Ethics and Integrity Compliance evaluation revealed significant institutional and governance shortcomings, which led to the inclusion of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in the 2025 report on high-corruption-risk MDAs.
UNICAL was listed because, according to the ICPC’s nationally applied evaluation framework, it received a zero-compliance grade for failing basic ethics, financial accountability, and internal anti-corruption criteria.
The ACTU Effectiveness Index (AEI) and the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS) were used to evaluate UNICAL.
UNICAL was placed in the “high corruption risk” category by the ICPC as one of the MDAs that received a zero on important integrity indicators. Systemic non-compliance is reflected in this rating.
The ICPC identified the following objective problems in its 2025 findings for organizations such as UNICAL:
1. The Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU), which is required under the national anti-corruption framework, is ineffective or non-operational.
2. Inadequate ethical and administrative frameworks. ICPC discovered that UNICAL lacked: i. Clearly stated mission, vision, and core values; ii. Gift and ethics rules; and iii. Regular monitoring and evaluation processes.
3. Gaps in financial and procurement responsibility. UNICAL was one of the non-compliant organizations that neglected to perform yearly procurement assessments, provide audited accounts within the required timeframes, or submit annual financial statements.
Connection to a well-known ICPC prosecution. The conviction of a top UNICAL professor for abuse of office raised concerns about internal control deficiencies, especially in enforcement and oversight structures, according to the ICPC, notwithstanding UNICAL’s systems-based classification.
According to the ICPC, if improvements are not implemented, institutions in the high-risk category may be subject to administrative penalty.
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