An International non-governmental-organisation (NGO), Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation (CESVO), based in Lokoja, Kogi State, has awarded the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), under the leadership of Pharm. Wale Oladigbolu. It also recognised the immediate past national chairman of ACPN, Pharm. (Dr) Samuel Adekola, with integrity award.
The ACPN was honoured for being amongst the top ten highest rated ethically responsible national associations in Nigeria, doing the nation proud in their fields of endeavours. While Adekola was awarded as one of the integrity icons of Nigeria, a status the group said is exclusively reserved for the incorruptible union leaders in Nigeria serving the nation and reducing poverty amongst citizens.
Explaining the motive behind the recognitions, Executive Director of CESVO, Prince Salih Yakubu, noted that the association by the NGO’s ethical rating scored over 77 percent to rank amongst the overall ten shortlisted non-state actors organisations after its secret investigations in Nigeria as a most ethically responsible association in 2021.
“Ours is to thank and appreciate people doing us proud while putting public criminals on their toes for holding us down for decades in our quest to develop as a nation. We have been continuously holding leaders accountable for over 15 years now and would not be deterred until our country becomes ethically grounded in all ramifications”
According to him, only ten met its leadership integrity test out of the 21 thematic areas which include, public accessibility; emotional intelligence; due process application; participation in community affairs; ethical uprightness; contribution to the social well-being of members and less privileged; transparency and accountable leadership; office attendance; quality assurance public project and policy implementation; national interest consideration; transparency; self- discipline, among others were considered, adding that in all of the 21 thematic areas, ACPN as an association has proved and shown indicators of leadership performance in 10 items which qualified the association for the award.
He added, we annually engage our 1500 volunteers and whistleblowers structured across the 774 LGA’s in Nigeria to distribute questionnaires, conduct opinion polls, and have interviews with informants. This is geared towards tapping information from citizens about their feelings concerning the policy and project performances of government at all levels. During this process corrupt practices are being exposed, we blacklist and commend where necessary. We are budget trackers. We ensured corroboration between what is approved in the budgets and what is on the ground, and we conduct due diligence on contractors handling the public projects.
“The Centre is not only out to investigate and expose corruption in the country, we are also complementing this with human capital development tagged train-the-trainers ethical retreat. The said project is targeted at 20000 working class in 2000 organizations secretly assessed and certified with our credence certificate. Our aim is to help minimise corruption in the country”, He said.
In his response, Oladigbolu said, “I heartily express our profound appreciations to the executives and members of (CESVO) for this honour to us as an association. Considering the fact that we are professional associations, being recognised alongside well-known personalities and associations means a lot to us. It will surely encourage us to do more.”
He further stressed that one of the missing gaps in achieving better health outcomes is for the federal and state governments to accord community pharmacists the right and privileges to do more for the people of Nigeria, adding that pharmacists can stand in the gap because people have trust in them and they are very close to the community.
The highpoint of the programme was the presentation of a certificate of credence to the ACPN, national, which certified the association as most ethically grounded with the least corruption perception index, issuance of ethical leadership, and conduct compliance certificate to the national chairman which is a certificate only reserved for leaders found to be ethical in character and conduct, while all the national executive members responsible for the daily running of the association were issued ‘professional ethics compliance award for their efforts so far.
While appreciating the CESVO, the duo of Pharm. Ambrose Eze, national secretary and Pharm. (Mrs) Omokhafe Ashore, national treasurer, thanked the Centre for considering ACPN worthy of such lofty and surprising recognition, assuring the Centre of their commitment to better service delivery to the good people of Nigeria.
Prince Salih Yakubu, executive director, (CESVO); Pharm. Ambrose Eze, national secretary; Pharm. Wale Oladigbolu, national chairman, ACPN; Dr. Samuel Adekola, immediate past national chairman; and Pharm. (Mrs) Asore Omokhafe, national treasurer, at the programme.
Prince Salih Yakubu, executive director, (CESVO), decorating Dr. Samuel Adekola, immediate past national chairman, ACPN.
, Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation (CESVO), based in Lokoja, Kogi State, has awarded the Association of){kind=link}