Lagos officials not submitting assets declaration forms – CCB

The Federal Commissioner, South West of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Abdulsalam Taofiq Olawale, has revealed that Lagos State public officials are not filling and submitting the Assets Declaration Form to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Olawale stated this on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at State House, Marina.

He, therefore, pleaded with the governor to help get the affected officials complied.

Responding, Sanwo-Olu promised to provide the needed support to the Code of Conduct Bureau for it to carry out its task in Lagos.

Sanwo-Olu thanked the team for coming, and for mentioning what his administration is doing.

The governor said: “For us, we know too well what the responsibilities are and the expectations of the people. And we would continue to challenge ourselves, and the minimum is to continue to deliver and not disappoint our people.

“Your agency is one of the important agencies for checks and balances in government. It is a forward looking bureau and aside the major role that many think it is the sole job of the agency, but there are many other activities of the agency.

“And we wish you well on those assignments. On your assignment in Lagos, we thank you for the advanced notice. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Head of Service will communicate with the affected officials and we would give you support for a seamless job.

“What you suggested around educating public officers to ensure that there is no gap and errors in filling the forms is important. We can work out an interactive engagement to enrich the understanding.

“For us in Lagos, we would continue to do the right thing. We would continue to give the support to make our environment conducive.”

Earlier, Olawale appreciated the governor for hosting his team and for supporting and providing the agency with a conducive environment to work.

He asked for collaboration with the governor and the state in fighting corruption, noting that though corruption cannot be ended, it can be reduced to the minimum.

“We do a lot more than documenting asset verification, and people don’t look at other areas of effort by the commission. We need more of your support to deliver on our tasks. We want you to assist us to get people to fill out their declaration form.”

Olawale said that if public officers cannot come to the agency’s office, they can send the filled-out form to the agency’s office via courier.

“We would be going out for field verification of the asset declaration forms, but we can inform or not inform the owners to confirm what has been given to us.”