Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Aliyu, has challenged Nigerian youths to take front-row seats in the nation’s anti-corruption campaign, warning that the country cannot win the fight without their active leadership and moral courage.
Speaking in Abuja at the 2025 International Anti-Corruption Day event held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Aliyu declared that the youth demographic remains the country’s most potent force in shaping a corruption-free future.
“Our young people are the drivers of tomorrow’s integrity,” he said, insisting that their creativity, boldness and civic energy must be mobilised to dismantle entrenched graft tendencies.
“Corruption threatens national dreams, but integrity strengthens them,” the ICPC chief noted.
He listed youth-centred ICPC programmes already in motion, from anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools to NYSC lectures and community projects, while also highlighting the commission’s push for transparency at the grassroots through accountability frameworks for local governments.
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Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, in his address, reinforced the message, describing young Nigerians as “custodians of the democratic future.”
He maintained that empowerment and ethical leadership among youth are central pillars of the current administration’s reforms.
Also speaking, Head of the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), Mrs. Jane Onwumere, drew a direct line between corruption and the desperate “japa” migration wave, arguing that young people are not merely recipients of governance outcomes but co-architects of national accountability.
The commemoration featured panel discussions and an inter-school debate in which Model Girls Secondary School, Maitama, clinched first place, closing the ceremony with a symbolic nod to the next generation expected to lead Nigeria’s integrity crusade.
