The simple way to fight corruption is this; "Don't ask, don't give".- Anonymous.

Corruption is undoubtedly the bane of development in our society, the ugly monster is entrenched in our daily life which resulted in us leaving in abject poverty and our society synonymous with corruption and fraud in the midst of international community. All this stem out from the long days of military rule in the country which saw Nigeria been featured for years as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Dr Gabriel Ogah, a resident of Lagos, Nigeria once wrote that "There was a time (1960 - 1980) when there was negligible corruption in Nigeria. At that time, there was security of life and property, there was rule of law and there was job security in government service. My salary as a young doctor in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital, in 1981, was more than that of my equivalent colleague in New York. There were no incentives to corruption at all. But from the mid 1980s, the rule of law vanished and the private sector was deliberately annihilated by the military in power. The main source of money became the government. Since then, incentives to corruption have been at a peak."

With the coming of democratic dispensation under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo war against corruption became one of the cardinal principles of the government which culminated in the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices commission ICPC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC.

Because corruption undermines economic growth, creates institutional mismanagement and hurts society by holding back economic development at all levels, while the Federal Government is hell bent on fighting corruption at the national level some states in the country also borrowed a leaf from the practice with states like Zamfara and of recent Kano state taking a cue.

French writer Victor Hugo said "there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come" in case of Kano state the anti corruption crusade gain momentum as the Kano state Governor Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau known for his record of transparent leadership devoid of corruptive tendencies and in his determination to promote accountability in public and civil service and his mission to guarantee social justice and the rights of the less privilege established an agency shouldered with the responsibility of fighting corruption christened as Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Directorate to meet the yearnings and aspiration of the people.

This in addition to his determination to fight attitudinal corruption as it is believed that there is no way you can do away with the institutional corruption without wiping away the attitudinal cooption first; this manifested in him establishing the Societal Re-orientation Directorate popularly known as A Daidaita Sahu and The Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Directorate established on August 2005 under the able leadership of Mallam Aminu Inuwa Muhammad a seasoned civil servant as it’s Director General and chief Executive.

Fighting the great monster bedeviling our society which is anti national, anti poor and anti economic development is undoubtedly a great task and any agency that succeeded in curbing the menace or reduced it to a bearest minimum deserve accolades and commendations a feat which Kano state Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Directorate strives to achieve as fighting corruption in Africa is a complex project, it can only be reduced but cant be completely eradicated.

Mallam Abba Anwar the public relation officer of the directorate once wrote "Corruption being a pregnant of all irregularities has many negative impact or destructive implications to both the society and what it contains. It retards development, kills efficiency, frustrates productivity, promotes laziness, intolerance and many more vices. I think the fruits that this Anti Corruption Directorate would produce should be un-missable to all"

Indeed his prediction is becoming reality as The Directorate mandated with the mediation of disputes between individuals and corporate bodies, investigation and redress of complaints from the public has from its establishment to January this year received over 254 complaints and petitions and has treated most of them with huge succeeds.

The Director General of the Commission Alhaji Aminu Muhammad Inuwa was quoted saying "A total of 167 cases of Public complaints were received which bordered on matters affecting family, land, housing, business, contract, civil service and civil society among others.

"The Rights, Promotion and Protection Department (of the Directorate) has similarly received 25 petitions, most of them on police brutality and human right abuses while the Anti Corruption Department received 42 petitions mostly against local government councils, government agencies and departments and few government officials.

As it is with any agency engaged in the fight against corruption, it hasn’t been an easy ride for the Directorate as there had been so many deliberate attempts to frustrate the activities of the Directorate.

The Directorate was instrumental in the removal of the Provost of Aminu Kano School of Islamic Legal Studies a task that generated a lot of hiccups for the commission as highly established individuals in the government were said to have made attempts to disrupt the smooth running of the Directorate’s investigation into the allegations leveled against the Provost, The Bursar and the Registrar of the school. But as resolute as it is the Directorate peruse the case to its logical conclusion which saw Dr. Nuruddeen Musa emerged as the new Provost while new Bursar, Registar and HODs were also elected.

Another instance of the Directorate's commitment to fighting corruption is the removal of the Chief Medical Director of Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital popularly known a Nasarawa Hospital Dr. Bello Umar Dikko and his subsequent replacement with Alhaji Abdullahi Zango led interim Management committee which was also not without constraints and problems, but as usual the Directorate succeeded in discharging its duties.

As the Directorate forge ahead in its resolute to fight corruption, it needs the continuous support of the state government especially the Governor Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau who is known to be prudent so that it can meet the yearning and aspiration of Kano people by cleansing the society from corrupt elements and instill transparency and accountability in the public service The Directorate also ought to be financially buoyant if not independent for it to be able to deliver as expected as such it need more funds from the state government, because you cant fight corruption in the midst of poverty.

The fight against Corruption is not a job of a single organisation or body, all hand must be on deck to see that the anti corruption crusade spearheaded by The Anti Corruption Directorate in Kano state succeeded as it will be of immense benefit to the common man and the society at large.