Islamabad: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has joined hands with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in its awareness campaign on “Say No to Corruption” by holding an awareness and prevention event, involving students and academicians. Acting Chairman NAB Muhammad Imtiaz Tajwar was the chief guest on the occasion. The event was marked by holding speeches and posters’ competition among the students of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It was organized by University’s Students’ advisory and counseling services in collaboration with Rawalpindi and Islamabad regional offices.
In his address Acting Chairman NAB Muhammad Imtiaz Tajwar said that youth is the pride of the nation and our future asset too. They are the leaders of tomorrow. He said that corruption is an evil. If this evil is eradicated from the society, the greatest threat to development is over.
He said that NAB has been assigned with the responsibility for the elimination of corruption through a holistic approach of awareness, prevention and enforcement. It takes cognizance of all offences falling within the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999. NAB under the leadership of Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB has launched National Anticorruption Strategy (NACS). NAB has also been entrusted with a state function under section 33C of the NAO to educate and advise public authorities, holders of public office and the community at large on measures to combat corruption and corrupt practices.
He said that large number of Character Building Societies (CBS) have been established in educational institutions around the country to educate the youth and to bring awareness to contain this evil monster. In addition to this, many seminars have been conducted to highlight the importance of curbing corruption and corrupt practices. Effective anticorruption media campaigns have also been launched.
The national Accountability Bureau (NAB) has entered into an MOU with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to carry out joint awareness efforts against the threat of corruption.
He said that NAB has adopted the Enforcement based approach in its fight against corruption. NAB has so far recovered an amount of over Rs.264 billion of looted public money. He said that due to extra ordinary performance of NAB under the chairmanship of Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry Chairman NAB, NAB has complemented with across the board actions; Pakistan’s position has considerably improved from 129 to 126 out of 175 countries worldwide in the latest Transparency International report on Corruption Perception index (CPI). This reflects that NAB has performed exceedingly well during the year. In fact this is the best position attained by Pakistan since Transparency International started this CPI rating system in 1995.
Imtiaz Tajwar Acting Chairman NAB further said that NAB alone will not be able to fight out corruption. The support from all segments of society, particularly the educational institutions is imperative to make it effective at mass-scale. The role of students and academicians are highly important in preparing the people not to indulge themselves in corruption in any manner.
Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Shahid Sididiqui announced that the AIOU will provide academic and institutional support to NAB in making the awareness and prevention campaign successful. It was decided that AIOU and NAB will soon jointly arrange similar events at the University’s regional campus in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Sukkar and Multan. The University will also incorporate anti-corruption’s contents in its curriculum.
Dr. Shahid Siddiqui said that AIOU has arranged a number of activities in the recent year to promote good-governance and transparency in the University’s overall academic, administrative and financial system. They have also upgraded its Complaint Management Center for addressing students’ complaints on fast-track basis. Transparency has been also introduced in admission, examination and delivery network through automation and use of technology— human element has been reduced.
“We have arranged series of workshops and seminars in last few months for professional development and capacity-building of our staff, enabling them to perform their duties in transparent and efficient manner,” he added. Top positions were scored by Kanwal Kazmi (Urdu-speech), Feroza Butt (English-speech) and Zainab Saeed (posters competition). They were awarded trophies and cash prizes.