Activists seek support for asset declaration institutions

Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, and an anti-corruption advocate, Dr. Lukman Adefolahan, have called for overhaul of the asset declaration institutions, especially the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), saying Nigeria can only achieve financial accountability in the public sector, if they are effective.

Speaking at a training by CISLAC and Transparency International (TI), in Abuja, the duo said the country could not afford to go into the 2023 elections with an underfunded CCB, an institution they described as the foremost anti-corruption agency and most relevant.

Corruption has been identified as a major threat to Nigeria’s development. Last year, the country dropped from 149 on TI’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) to 154 out of 180 countries surveyed.

According to Rafsanjani, transparency in the public sector will increase if CCB is overhauled to boost its investigative capacity, noting that the culture of asset declaration must move beyond mere ritual to a serious engagement before it would make any serious impact in building a new Nigeria.

The social crusader urged Nigeria to demand accountability and transparency from public officials as the country goes into an election year, insisting that the existing asset declaration process is flawed by “anticipatory declaration” and other fraudulent practices.

“It is important that those contesting the different elective positions declare their assets publicly. We should not be struggling to get information on the assets of a public official.

“We want to also see how each candidate running for the president intends to fund CCB when they come into the office. You cannot fight corruption without a proper framework and funding of asset declaration institutions,” he argued.

Adefolahan decried the underfunding of CCB, noting that Nigeria would not need the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practice and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), if the bureau is functional.

That CCB is the only anti-corruption agency with constitutional power, rather than a product of an act of the parliament, makes it most fundamental to efforts to rid the country of official grafts.

The coverage of asset declaration, he observed, has been largely misconstrued and restricted to political office holders and top public officers whereas it is meant to apply to all individuals “elected, appointed, recruited and contracted” to render public services.

According to him, compliance with the law is less than 50 per cent, which should raise concern among Nigerians who desire probity from public service providers.

The anti-corruption expert urged politicians to declare their before and after office as required by the law and make the documents public as a matter of morality.

CCB Chairman, Prof. Mohammed Isah, disclosed that the bureau has started online asset declaration to ease the process, saying the innovation would remarkably enhance the culture.

Isah, who was represented by Mohammed Adamu, said declared assets of public officers would still not be accessible to the public until there is a review of the relevant constitutional provision reversing the position of the law.