CCB: Many public officials not complying with asset declaration law
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/10/ccb-many-public-officials-not-complying.html
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) says the level of compliance with
the declaration of assets by public office holders in the country is not
encouraging.
Mohammed Isah, Chairman of the bureau, disclosed this when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
According to him, even though there is an improvement from what it
used to be in time past, there is a need for all public officers to know
that they are duty-bound to declare their assets.
“What we met that used to be the level of compliance has now risen to
a certain level, the nature of the subject that we are expected to
cover is too wide.
“Under part two of the fifth schedule of the 1999 constitution
provides that from the President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy
Governors, members of the National Assembly, members of House of
Assembly, Ministers, Commissioners and all Chairmen of all Parastatals
and Agencies of Federal and State governments, Military, Police,
Immigration, Customs, Prisons, Political Office Holders and all Federal,
States and Local Government civil servants all of them are public
officers.
“And, our main predicament is the issue of enlightenment. People have
little or no knowledge about their obligations or relations to
compliance with the Code of Conduct for public officers.
“So, the level of compliance is not encouraging at all,’’ he said.
On the issue of accessing information as declared by public officers,
the chairman noted that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act provides
that an individual, such as a private person, would be given access to
such document.
“If anybody wishes to access information as declared by a public
officer in the custody of the bureau, the law has laid down conditions
precedent for that particular individual as a private person to access
that information.
“The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) is very clear and is very explicit in relation to this.
“And, paragraph three of the third schedule of the constitution as
well as the CCB and CCT Act provides that it is the national assembly
that will give out the guidelines for accessing the information that is
in custody of the bureau of declarant and those guidelines are still
much in place.
“So, if anybody as a private person or private organisation wants to
access asset declaration or information contained in asset declaration
of any public officer, those conditions laid down by FOI Act must be
fulfilled,” Mr Isah said.
He also called on employees to be diligent in the
discharge of their duties to enable the bureau to excel in its fight
against corruption.
He noted that the bureau had been neglected in recent past due to its
non-performance. He, however, charged the employees to be
performance-driven.
The chairman said reforms, especially in the investigation
department, as well as retreats, have been introduced as part of efforts
to repositioning the organisation.
According to him, a thorough investigation about any alleged corrupt
public officer is needed for the bureau to win any case brought before
the court.
“The success or failure of every trial is as a result of the investigation conducted.
“As we came in, we introduced some reforms in our investigation
department and I believe every case we take to court, we are taking it
with assurance that we are going to win.
“Because, we are not going to leave any stone unturned and we have
had a retreat in May with all our state directors, board members and
directors as well as some of our staff members.
“We reiterated our position as the board to everybody that it is no longer business as usual.
“The bureau was neglected because of its non-performance and we are not here to fail.
“We are here to achieve and make the bureau better than we met it.
“So, in the next few days, the turnout in terms of the success of our cases in court will be very impressive,’’ Mr Isah said.
Mr Isah said the bureau remains independent and not under government’s interference in its anti-corruption crusade.
He noted that for any anti-corruption agency to curb the menace of
corruption in the country, such an organisation must be neutral with no
interference from the government and its agencies.
“CCB is very much independent as Section 158 subsection one of the constitution is very clear on this.
“That CCB is not subject to any power or authority in discharging its mandate.
“This is the decision reached by the supreme court in 2018 in the
case of Bukola Saraki versus FIN. Therefore, we are independent, we are
neutral.
“We are neutral, but the type of independence of CCB is away from the
government even though we receive subvention from the government.
“Our staff are paid salaries by the government, so we don’t have any independence of our own money.
However, I am not trying to tell you that he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
“The independence is for us to discharge our duty; no pressure at all from anybody,” Mr Isah said.
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