President Muhammadu Buhari, his vice Professor Yemi Osinbanjo and other top officials of the administration will be declaring their assets before their tenure ends.
This is according to the Special Adviser to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Chairman on General Duties, Dr Mustapha Musa.
The move is in line with the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which mandates that all public officers declare their assets and liabilities at the beginning and end of their tenures.
The outgoing presidential aides, the 28 state governors and their cabinet members, National Assembly and state assembly members, and local government chairmen will also be required to declare their assets.
The asset declaration forms are available online, and officials leaving office have to submit them when they leave, and incoming officials have three months to do so.
Musa stated that the assets to be declared include all properties and assets acquired within or outside the country with the value of the said assets in the currency of the country where the property is located. Furthermore, officials are to declare all their assets, including money, landed property, vehicles, shares, bonds, and other assets and the sources of these assets.
The CCB official also mentioned that plans were underway to digitalize the asset declaration process, and the bureau would soon stop issuing hard copies of the forms. Despite concerns about outgoing officials disappearing before submitting their forms, the CCB official noted that officials could not submit their forms until they were about to leave office.
The CCB is the only body authorized by the constitution to prosecute cases of breaches of the code of conduct for public officers. It is targeting public officers for compliance, and erring public officials are being prosecuted in thousands. The judiciary body has the power to prosecute public officers.
The forms for asset declaration are expected to be available for issuance in mid-April or early May.
The bureau starts issuing the CCB1 form before the expiration of the term of office due to the difficulty in tracking those who might disappear after leaving office.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
