By Ade Oyeyemi
The Code of Conduct Bureau says it has investigated and verified the assets declared by more than 20 ministers and 30 permanent secretaries as part of measures to strengthen accountability among public office holders.
The CCB Chairman, Abdullahi Bello, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at an anti-corruption and asset-tracing stakeholders’ workshop organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda in collaboration with the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa.
Bello said the bureau had shifted from simply collecting asset declaration forms to scrutinising the information provided, investigating suspected breaches and prosecuting offenders where necessary.
He said, “We are not submitting forms anymore. Now, we’re examining the forms, we’re also investigating, and we’re also prosecuting.”
According to him, the bureau’s verification exercise has focused particularly on senior government officials and other high-profile public officers.
“We have interviewed and verified the relations of more than 20 ministers, 30 permanent secretaries, 32 health agencies, and other high-profile individuals,” Bello said.
He explained that public officers could be invited to the bureau for face-to-face scrutiny of their declarations, adding that the process allows the CCB to compare officials’ assets at the beginning and end of their tenure.
“One of the key things that we do is that, once you declare your assets at the beginning of your term, we verify it, then we’ll wait for you at the end of your term, we’ll also verify it,” he stated.
Bello said discrepancies between an official’s declared assets at the beginning and end of tenure could trigger further investigation if they could not be explained through legitimate income.
He, however, stressed that the bureau did not have to wait until an official completed their tenure before commencing an investigation.
“But it doesn’t mean that we have to wait for you to finish office before we can investigate you. If there is any allegation against you, we can also investigate. Or if there is intelligence against you, we can also investigate,” he said.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of HEDA, Arigbabu Sulaimon, said the workshop was designed to improve collaboration among anti-corruption agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
Sulaimon described the meeting as a technical working session aimed at addressing institutional gaps, improving intelligence sharing and strengthening civic participation in the fight against corruption.
He identified improved inter-agency cooperation as one of the key objectives, stressing the need to bridge information-sharing gaps between government institutions and civil society groups.
The HEDA executive secretary also urged stakeholders to make greater use of the Proceeds of Crime Act and the statutory powers of the CCB in tracing and recovering assets suspected to be linked to illicit activities.
He further called for stronger protection for whistleblowers, saying adequate safeguards would encourage more people to provide information on corruption and other forms of wrongdoing.
