The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (FEAC) is comprised of various departments, services and offices. Here is a brief description of them.

 7. Professional Mix and Organizational Set-up

The Commission has been doing its best to acquire as many professionals and support staff as possible. At the end of February 2008, it had 290 staffers. The professional mix of the staffers is so diverse that we can find lawyers, engineers, managers, accountants, education experts, public relations officers, media people, economists and other social science experts.

The FEACC is comprised seven departments, three services and two offices. The departments are identified as Ethics Education and Public Relations, Corruption Prevention, Corruption Investigation, Corruption Prosecution, Studies and Research, Ethics Infrastructures Coordination and Administration and Finance departments. The Services are also designated as Legal, Audit, and Plan and Programme services. The Commissioner's Office and the Deputy Commissioner's Office are also part of the organizational set up. Here is a brief description of them.

7.1 The Ethics Education and Public Relations Department

The major objective of this Department is creating an aware society (in cooperation with relevant bodies) where corruption will not be tolerated by promoting ethics and anti-corruption education. It also publicizes the Commission’s visions, missions, objectives, duties, powers, programmes, activities and achievements in cooperation with other departments.

In discharging its responsibilities, the Department uses various tools and channels of communication, including media, posters, fliers, brochures, stickers, billboards, news letters (internal and external) and magazines. It also gives face-to-face ethics and anti-corruption education.

Simply put, all the activities and efforts of this Department are geared towards the effective prevention of corruption through the enhancement and expanding of ethics and anti-corruption education.

The Ethics Education and Public Relations Department, which comprised the Public Relations, Media and Ethics Education Teams, is headed by a Director, who, in turn, has four team leaders (of the afore-mentioned teams) under his supervision.

The Department has 31 members in total. As to their educational background, members of the staff have held diplomas, first degrees and second degrees in the areas of languages and literature, education, political science and international relations, curriculum and communication. These professionals have various levels of experience in the areas of teaching, curriculum designing, journalism, communication, etc.

 7.2 The Corruption Prevention Department

This Department is duty-bound to prevent corruption offences and other improprieties in cooperation with relevant bodies. In order to do so, it studies the practices and working procedures in public offices and public enterprises thereby ensuring the revision of methods of work, which may be conducive to corrupt practices.

Upon the completion of the studies, the Department consults stakeholders, puts forward corrective measures and recommendations and follows up their implementation.

The Corruption Prevention Department has 35 professional staffers in total.  The Department is headed by a Director, who has three principal four teams under his supervision.

7.3The Corruption Investigation Department

According to the Commission’s Establishment Proclamation, the Corruption Investigation Department is authorized to investigate or cause the investigation of any alleged or suspected corruption offences where they are committed in public offices or public enterprises or in the regional offices relating to subsidies granted by the Federal Government to the regions. It is also obliged by law to investigate or cause the investigation of any complaints of alleged serious breaches of the codes of ethics in public offices or public enterprises and follow up the taking of proper measures.

The Department receives tips-off from whistle blowers on alleged corruption offences and ethical infringements, investigates them in the order of their seriousness and transfers them to the Department of Prosecution of the Commission. If it deems it necessary, it may require of any federal or regional public office or enterprise to produce relevant documents and provide appropriate information for the examination of practices and working procedures.

Accordingly, any public official or public employee is obliged by law to show or produce relevant documents or information when requested by the Department. Moreover, the former are duty-bound to report to the Department where they have a reasonable suspicion that corruption offences are or are about to be committed. The Department, on its part, is responsible to provide physical and job security protection for witnesses and whistle-blowers.

It has 82 staffers. Investigators are duty-bound to apply to courts for restraining order on any property acquired through the Commission of corruption offences. There are a total of eight teams in the Department. The Department is headed by a Director with a special assistant under him.

 7.4 The Corruption Prosecution Department

The Corruption Prosecution Department, as its very name suggests, was established to prosecute or cause the prosecution of any alleged or suspected corruption offences (where they are committed in public offices or public enterprises or in the regional offices relating to subsidies granted by the Federal Government to regions) based on the substantiated and incriminating evidence provided by the Investigation Department. It is also authorized to freeze, by court order, assets and wealth that are allegedly obtained through corruption and cause (through court order) their forfeiture and confiscation.

If the court verdict goes in its favour, the Department shall dispose the assets and wealth (by or without public auction) and transfer them to the Government. The Prosecution Department works in close collaboration with the Investigation Department, Courts and other prosecutorial organs. The Department has 30 staffers in total.

 7.5 Department for the Coordination of Ethics Infrastructures

This Department is tasked with coordinating the activities of major stakeholders in the fight against corruption in the Country. The Department is headed by a Director who has a team leader under him. It has 12 staff members. The Department is in charge of coordinating the following major stakeholders:

·        Regional ethics and anti-corruption commissions,

·        Ethics Liaison offices,

·        Public offices (police departments, prosecutorial bodies, courts, ombudsman and human rights agencies, auditor generals, and parliaments, etc)   that are in charge of probing, investigating, and prosecuting crimes at federal and regional levels,

·        Ethics and civic education clubs,

·        Civil society organizations,

·        Professional associations,

·        Media and religious organizations, etc.

The Department extends support to the above-mentioned organizations in the following areas:

• Coordinating and institutionalizing their activities in combating corruption,
• Offering training and sharing experience,
• Liaising between the Commission and the organizations,
• Providing them with advisory and technical supports and
• Facilitating the alleviation of their problems.

In return, the Commission needs to get the following services from them:

• Providing it with information on ethics and anti-corruption education, areas that are believed to be prone to corruption in their respective public offices and enterprises, and statistical data on their performances;
• Extending support to the Commission in the investigation of alleged corruption cases and examination of working procedures that are believed to be conducive to corruption,

 7.6 Research and Studies Department

The Research and Studies Department was established following the conclusion of the BPR conducted in the major activities and work flows of the Commission. The department is led by a director and has two teams. After the finalization of the BPR, it was decided that there should be a department tasked with extending support to those departments that are engaged in expanding ethics education and examining the working procedures of public offices and enterprises. The Department is led by a Director and has ----teams.

More specifically, the Department is in charge of carrying out the following activities:

·        Conducting baseline and corruption surveys,

·        Following up the proper implementation of anti-corruption laws and codes of ethics,

·        Evaluating work flows and proposing solutions to problems,

·        conducting researches on ethics education,

·        Designing proposals for  working procedures,

·        Conducting researches on issues brought to the Commission by different cross-sections of the society,

·        Distributing and dispatching findings of researches and studies,

·        Drafting legal documents.

The recipients of the services of the Department include the government, Commission's departments, regional anti-corruption institutions, ethics liaison units and other stakeholders.

The research findings of the Department are believed to be very helpful in basing some of the Commission's activities on research findings thereby raising its overall performance and efficiency. The Department has 15 staff members

 7.7 Administration and Finance Department

The Administration and Finance Department has the largest number of staffers, 68. It is led by a Director. It consists of four units, namely Finance, Human Resource Management and Training, Property Administration and General Services and Information Technology Units.

 The Finance Unit administers, organizes and controls the Commission’s budgetary spending and expenditure. The Human Resource Management and Training Unit, on its part, is entitled to develop the Commission’s human resource capacity through employment and transfer. It is also responsible to build the capacity of the staffers through various training and awareness raising programmes. Issues related to credentials, promotion, pension and leave of absence are also handled by the same Unit.

The Property Administration and General Services Unit procures consumable goods and fixed assets, distributes them among the Commission’s staffers, as may be required and administers their proper and efficient utilization. It is also in charge of all the maintenance activities, payments and insurance agreements.

The Information Technology Unit takes charge of equipping the Commission and its staffers with appropriate information technology. Currently, the department is under reengineering and is subject to structural change once the reengineering processes are finalized.

 .8 Services and Offices

The Internal Audit Service audits the financial documents and performances of the various departments, services and units. It then presents the report to the Commissioner. The Service examines the authenticity, legitimacy and validity of the financial documents and declarations, makes recommendations based on its assessments and follows up the implementation of the recommendations. There are three staffers in this Service.

The Plan and Programme Service is duty-bound to coordinate and organize the Commission’s plans, programmes, projects and performance reports. It is engaged in developing projects and following up their implementation. It also evaluates and follows up the implementation of plans, projects and programmes. Moreover, the Service develops short, long and mid-term plans of the FEACC and proposes appropriate strategies on how to effectively implement them. It also advises the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Directors on developing plans, projects, programmes and performance evaluation reports. It also collects and organizes statistical data and abstract. There are five professionals in the staff of this Service. Currently, the Audit and Plan and Programme Services are under reengineering.

The Legal Service, on its part, provides legal advice to the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and other departments of the Commission, prepares legal documents, comments on draft regulations and directives prepared by other departments, represents the Commission on legal issues and prepares directives. It also revises the existing regulations and directives, detects possible bottlenecks in them and proposes amendments if need be. There are three staffers in the Legal Service.