ABUJA (AFP) – Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday inaugurated a presidential advisory committee on good governance and tackling corruption, assuring that its suggestions will be acted upon.

"Let me assure you that your recommendations and suggestions will not be treated with levity," he told members of the committee, most of whom are respected private elder statesmen.

Critics have often accused Nigeria's government of not implementing the recommendations of advisory bodies and panels it set up to tackle specific socio-political problems.

"I urge you to come up with practical options that will enable this government to improve the quality of life of all our citizens," he told the 25-member body.

The committee, chaired by former defence minister General Theophilus Danjuma, is expected to come up with recommendations on good governance, policy formulation, power, economy, infrastructure and other key sectors.

Danjuma said that although the administration had "barely 12 months to serve out its tenure... you have sufficient time to make a difference."

He said the government should make its fight against corruption "proactive rather than reactive."

Nigeria last year slipped on the corruption perception index to 142nd position from 121st recorded the previous year, global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said in its report in November.

Every government in power in Nigeria since the nation's independence in 1960 has promised to fight against corruption.

Corruption has been identified as a major disincentive to investments in Africa's most populous nation of 150 million people.

Free and transparent elections, electoral reforms, tackling power supplies and ensuring peace in the oil-rich Niger Delta were problems that needed urgent attention by government, Danjuma said.

Some other notable statesmen on the committee are Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth secretary general, constitutional lawyer Ben Nwabueze and Alfa Belgore, former chief justice of Nigeria, former Shell managing director in Nigeria Basil Omiyi and ex-justice minister Kanu Agabi.