Ministers to appear before Code of Conduct Bureau to verify their asset declarations

SERVING ministers in the current cabinet including the likes of Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi are to be assessed by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in a massive verification of assets exercise aimed at enhancing clean government.

 

CCB guidelines mandate ministers to declare their assets before and upon leaving office and these details are then checked to ensure the information given is accurate and true. Upon assuming office, all serving ministers were asked to declare their assets and submit the details to the CCB.

 

As part of President Muhammadu Buhari's drive to ensure transparency in government, the CCB has declared that it will now verify the details submitted by top serving and former public officers at the federal, state and local government levels. CCB chairman Sam Saba, said that the exercise would involve the physical appearance of the concerned public officers before the bureau and field verifications of their declared assets.

 

According to the bureau, ministers who have yet to submit themselves for the verification are Rotimi Amaechi (Transportation), Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing), Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum Resources State),  Abubakar Malami (Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice), Adebayo Shittu (Communications), Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Solid Minerals and Steel Development) and Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development). Others include Senator Aisha Alhassan (Women Affairs and Social Development), Solomon Dalung (Youths & Sports Development), Osagie Ehanire (Health (State), Usani Usani (Niger Delta Affairs), Professor Anthony Anwukah (Education (State), Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture) and General Ali Mansur (Defence).

 

Other ministers as well as  public officers still expected to submit themselves to the bureau include the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele, the head of service of the federation, Mrs Oyo-Ita Ekanem, the chief of defence staff General Abayomi Olanishakin, the chief of air staff Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Sadique and the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Ibas Ibok. Also on the list are the immediate past inspector-general of police Solomon Arase, the chairman of the Police Service Commission Chief Mike Okiro, the controller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service Babatunde Mohammed and the executive secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Waziri Adio.

 

All the other heads of parastatals are also to go through the exercise as are the deputy inspectors-generals of police. Conference verification requires public officers to present documents relating to their declared assets to designated officials of the bureau.

Mr Saba said: “All invited public officers are to note that failure to honour the invitation by the CCB in this regard is a breach of the provisions of the constitution and could lead to prosecution at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Public officers not yet invited are to await their letters of invitation.”

 

He listed 76 public officers that had been invited by the bureau with a threat of the possibility of prosecution if they fail to honour the invitation. Among the 76 invitees are 30 ministers whom, according to the bureau, have yet to submit themselves to the exercise.