The Nation Newspaper

Tag: asset declaration

  • Asset declaration: Customs officers rush to beat deadline

    Asset declaration: Customs officers rush to beat deadline

     

    Customs officers across the country are rushing to beat the 14 day deadline given them to declare their assets, The Nation gathered on Friday.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Wale Adeniyi confirmed that officers and men  were already declaring their assets as directed by the Comptroller- General of the NCS, Retired Col. Hammed Alli last week.

    He said the asset declaration forms are being deposited with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for appropriate action.

    He referred The Nation to the bureau for further information, saying: “the best place to find out is the Code of Conduct. They (officers) don’t fill the form and bring it back to Customs.  It is an individual action.

    “There are those who filled it earlier in the year; there are those who fill it regularly.

    “It is the Code of Conduct Bureau that can say the rate of compliance. The Code of Conduct Bureau office is all over the federation but the responsibility of filling the form rest with the officers. But left for me, I have collected the form, I have filled it and I have submitted. They (the officers) all have the obligation of and filling the forms”, Adeniyi said by phone.

    The Comptroller- General of the NCS, Retired Col. Hammed Alli had last week directed the officers to declare their assets within two weeks.”

    An officer that spoke with our Abuja correspondent on the condition of anonymity said that asset declaration is not a pleasant exercise that one would expect them to do with relish.

    He likened the exercise to salaries that people would hardly disclose to their loved ones and associates.

    Speaking with The Nation, another female officer said “journalist, who will happily disclose how much he has in his account to you? Who will happily declare the number of houses he owns in this country when the outcome is not for any reward but a punishment?

    “Please, don’t ask me how I feel declaring my asset. It is like asking me how I feel when I am doing something forcefully.”

    Asked whether their colleagues were complying with the directive, a female officer said, “We have no choice. We must comply to retain our jobs. But nobody will show you the details of his asset declaration form.”

  • Asset declaration: Supreme Court to hear Saraki’s appeal on Thursday

    Asset declaration: Supreme Court to hear Saraki’s appeal on Thursday

    THE Supreme Court has scheduled Thursday for hearing of the appeal by Senate President Bukola saraki.

    The court’s decision to hear the appeal this week was contained in hearing notices sent to parties in the case, a copy of which The Nation sighted yesterday.

    Saraki is, with the appeal, challenging the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to assume jurisdiction over the charge of false asset declaration brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    The Court of Appeal, in a split decision of two-to-one upheld the CCT’s jurisdiction to hear the charge, a decision Saraki appealed to the Supreme Court.

    The apex court had on November 12 directed the CCT to suspend proceedings in the trial pending determination of the appeal.

    A five-man bench of the court, led by Justice John Fabiyi, gave the directive for a halt in the proceedings before the CCT following an undertaking by respondents’ lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), to the effect that since the court has granted accelerated hearing in the appeal, he will prevail on the CCT not to proceed with trial until the apex court pronounce on Saraki’s appeal.

    It is, however, expected that a new head would be chosen for the panel hearing the appeal because Justice Fabiyi retired last Wednesday.

     

     

     

     

  • Surveyors fault asset declaration without certified valuation

    Surveyors fault asset declaration without certified valuation

    • Seek liberalisation in land acquisition 

    Surveyors have faulted assets declaration by public officers without the input of professional estate valuers.

    Former President, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIESV) and Principal Partner, Bode Adediji Partnership, Mr. Bode Adediji said without a surveyor, it would be impossible to confirm the authenticity of asset declared as they are trained on asset valuation.

    Adediji urged the government to come up with a policy that will liberalise land acquisition lamenting that cost of land in the country remains the highest in Africa with poor mortgage facility.

    He faulted the idea of public officers just going to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to declare their assets without a professional valuing their worth.

    He said: “Corruption can only be checked in public service when there is a professional input that will not only ensure that people declare what they have on entering office but also at the expiration of their tenure. All asset declaration by political office holders should be accompanied by certified valuation report in order to forestall anticipatory declarations which often give room for corruption”

    The current practice where public officials fill out the asset declaration form without evidence of proper valuation or certification by approved valuers was defeatist and capable of breeding corruption as politicians often declared what they have in vacuum, he added.

    Adediji said politicians could simply declare what they don’t currently have in anticipation of getting those things while in office. According to him any asset declaration form not authenticated by an estate surveyor and valuer should not be admitted in evidence, adding that the CCB should involve surveyors whose major responsibility is asset valuation.

    He said government cannot adequately deal with the security challenges in the country without adequately dealing with bridging existing deficit in housing in the counrty.

    “Our economy has been charecterised by a cash and carry; Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania have more viable and virile mortgage institution. It is instructive to note that we may not be able to fight insecurity and corruption without a robust housing programme,” he said.

     

     

    Chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), William Odudu said when public officers declare assets without certification from valuers, it makes the exercise not to be strictly dependable.

    Assets had to be documented, verified and valuated before they are declared, he said, adding that the CCB had the duty to invite estate surveyors and valuers as they are statutorily and professionally qualified to do the verification and valuation of those assets.

    He said: “As a rule, the CCB should, after receiving assets from a public officer, his wife and children, not just the man alone, appoint a surveyor to valuate those assets. The declaration is not enough; there should be verification and valuation.”

    According to him, asset valuation has the benefit of helping to check corrupt practices by politicians, stressing that the features, location and value of an asset needed to be established.

  • Saraki faults CCB on asset declaration

    Saraki faults CCB on asset declaration

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday described as frivolous the allegation of corrupt practices leveled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    Saraki, in a statement issued by his media office, said the CCB is under external influence.

    The CCB reportedly slammed a 13-count charge on corruption against the Senate President on Tuesday.

    The report noted that in charge number ABT/01/15, dated September 11 and filed before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Saraki was accused of offences ranging from non- declaration of assets to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the CCB while he was governor of Kwara State.

    [ad id=”403656″]The Senate President was also accused of failing to declare some assets he acquired while in office as governor.

    But Saraki wondered why the CCB had to wait for 12 years before coming up with the allegation that the asset declaration he submitted was fraught with inconsistency and fraud.

    He noted that CCB, following its processes in which after a declaration is submitted to the bureau, ought to have carried out verification of the assets and ascertain the claims made and not wait till 12 years later to point out alleged inconsistencies in a document submitted to it in 2003.

    He said that contrary to the procedure indicated in the law setting up the CCB, the bureau never wrote to him to complain of any inconsistency in his asset declaration forms.

     

  • Asset declaration

    Asset declaration

    •Saraki and Dogara should emulate Buhari and Osinbajo

    The information that President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his assets four times in the course of his public career is soothing, considering that many public officers circumvent this constitutional requirement. Even more ennobling is that the declarations of assets by the President and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, have been made public. Unfortunately, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) provided for by the Third Schedule, Part 1a, to maintain standards and ensure public morality and accountability; and The Code of Conduct Tribunal established by the Fifth Schedule, Part 1, paragraph 15, of the 1999 constitution, to enforce those standards, have not lived up to their obligations.

    President Buhari stated the number of declarations while in Ghana, early this week. He also challenged the media to seek out his declarations, as he has discharged his constitutional obligations. The President further stated that the governors, ministers and permanent secretaries must declare their assets, as required by the constitution.

    We identify with the challenge thrown to the media by the president, and extend same to the civil society, as a collaborative watch-dog of the society. As the president observed, the media should demand from the bureau, the information in the assets declaration form; under the purview of Freedom of Information Act.

    As we have seen over the years, the bureau and the tribunal established by the constitution to help rein in the conduct of public officers have been more of laggards. Were the organs to be alive to their responsibilities, all the state officers named in Part 2 of the fifth schedule to the constitution, would “immediately after taking office” declare their “properties, assets and liabilities and those of unmarried children under the age of eighteen”. This should be followed with another declaration “at the end of every four years” or “at the end of term of office” as provided by the constitution.

    The idea behind the constitutional provision is to create a public trail of the assets of public officers while they are in public service. As provided in the fifth schedule, an unexplainable acquisition, while in public service, has serious consequences. In paragraph 18(2), these include vacation of office by the culprit, disqualification from membership of legislative house, and from holding any public office for 10 years or less, and seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.

    We urge all the public officers listed in Part 2, paragraphs 1 to 16 of the schedule, to immediately declare their assets, in accordance with the law, if they have not done so by now. The constitution makes the declaration mandatory ‘immediately after taking office’; so there should be no further delay. The officers listed include the president, vice president, Senate President, deputy senate president, speaker and deputy speaker, House of Representatives, speakers of states houses of assembly, members and staff of legislative houses, governors and deputy governors of states, justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, ministers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, director-generals, chairmen and members of local councils, police and military chiefs, among others.

    As provided in paragraph 18(3), the sanctions that can be meted out by the tribunal shall not prejudice ‘the penalties that may be imposed by any law where the conduct is also a criminal offence’. In our view, a vibrant bureau and tribunal, will help reduce corrupt practices, and even preclude corrupt persons from further accessing public offices. It would also create employment, should they build the necessary capacity to perform their constitutional obligations, which include verifying the assets declared by the public officers, at the beginning and the end of public tenures.

    With president and vice president as shining lights in this case, the Senate President and House Speaker should do same as well as governors. So others can follow.

  • Ekiti PDP to APC: You can’t compel Fayose to declare assets

    The Ekiti State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of playing to the gallery by asking Governor Ayo Fayose to publicly declare his assets like his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

    The PDP maintained that the APC lacks the moral justification to upbraid Fayose for not making his assets public when many of the governors elected on its (APC) platform had not done so.

    The party in a statement issued on Wednesday by its Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, maintained that APC cannot compel Fayose to release details of his assets because the opposition has an ulterior motive by making such demand.

    Rather than calling on Fayose to make public his assets declaration, the PDP urged the APC to direct the call to about 23 governors elected on its platform to do so before demanding for that from the Ekiti governor.

    The PDP said until the APC does this, it would remain in “the wilderness of foolishness” as “a party peopled by intelligent persons should know that you can only ask question on what you are not guilty of.”

    While criticizing the APC for celebrating the assets declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari, the PDP claimed that the declaration by the President “contained many loopholes which no sensible person should be proud of.”

    “The declaration made by Buhari cannot be compared to that made by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua which till date has been adjudged as a perfect declaration by any Nigerian President,” the party stated.

     

     

  • Ex-minister: Asset declaration ‘ll curb corruption

    Aformer Minister of  State for Finance, Remi Babalola, has said public declaration of assets by public officers will assist President Muhammadu Buhari in his anti-graft war.

    He urged ministers, permanent secretaries, directors-general, and heads of ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) to toe the transparent path of the president and his vice that have publicly declared their assets.

    He also canvassed the forfeiture of 10 per cent of undeclared assets to whistle-blowers, if successfully prosecuted, arguing that this is the only way to curb the alarming rate of corruption in the country.

    He spoke in a paper titled: Achieving the Nigeria of our dream: The responsibility of professional accountants, in Abuja.

    An activist and lawyer,  Chima Ubani, hailed the decision of the president and the vice president to publicly declare their assets, adding that Nigerians are now more convinced that the anti-corruption mantra of president Buhari is real.  He noted that it will discourage corruption in governance, make for transparency in governance, attract foreign direct investment and free funds for infrastructure development which the nation is in dire need of.

    Ubani, who spoke in Lagos, said he had been in the vanguard of campaigning for the declaration of assets by public officers say anybody found to have corruptly enriched himself should be tried by a competent court and jailed if found guilty. He however, observed the need to make the courts more responsive in handling corruption cases to discourage corruption.

    While calling for concerted action by the civil society organisations, professional groups, judiciary, media, labour unions and student unions against corruption, the former minister called attention to the dearth of transparency in the oil sector, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

     

    He regretted that the body has been reduced to importation of refined petroleum products and payment of subsidies to bogus oil marketers, wondering why it is difficult for it to excel like its contemporaries in Brazil, Petrolbras and Malaysia, Petronas.  On how to deal with corruption in NNPC he advised that it should be  compelled to publish its audited accounts and quarterly statements like all listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    “Our culture of impunity is the bane of the entrenched corruption in our society. The value destruction and corruption undermine any economic development or social change we may aspire for our nation. Mismanagement and misallocation of resources, coupled with an unprecedented level of corruption have been at their highest in the history of our nation in the last six years. Performance or success in public space was measured by the conversion rate of public funds into private accounts”.

    On the recent Federal Government’s bailout for the states, Babalola said notwithstanding the importance of the gesture it may impose a moral hazard on the states to continue with financial recklessness leading to financial insolvency. It should have been done in line with Section 41 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, he added. He stressed that the nation should have learnt from the Greece example by treating each state as a separate entity with peculiar conditionalities in addition to involving the relevant professional bodies as advisers.

    He called for more financial prudence and disclosure by professional accountants, while urging professional accountants to be discipline, knowledge, ethics and integrity in their practice at all times.

  • PDP faults Buhari’s, Osinbajo’s asset declaration

    PDP faults Buhari’s, Osinbajo’s asset declaration

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “a deceptive window-dressing to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians” the asset declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The PDP said Buhari and Osinbajo failed to produce copies of their declarations detailing the exact nature and value of their respective assets.

    PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Friday said: “The release of a mere list of belongings falls short of credibility, transparency and anti-corruption standards as well as exposes the proclivity of the present administration for deception.

    “We have noted the release of a flimsy list of belongings of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo by the Presidency, who want such to pass as the public declaration of assets as pledged by the President.

    “Nigerians are not deceived by this poor attempt at window-dressing designed by the Presidency to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace in a desperate bid to shore up its diminished image.

    “We ask, is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance with their widely observed inclination for flip flopping, backtracking and brazen denials of their statements and actions?

    “All we want is credibility, integrity and sincerity of purpose. We are not questioning how a President, who by December last year, declared that he had only N1 million in his account, could suddenly now list N30 million in the same bank account by May 29, and after an expensive campaign; we are not yet demanding the public declaration of his assets in his wife’s name.

    “We are not even applauding the multiplication of his cows from 150 to 250 in a space of three months, arising from his dual and conflicting pronouncements on this issue

    “What the PDP and discerning Nigerians demand is for Mr. President to always stand by his words and pledge.

    “Mr. President, this is a mere list of your belongings and not public declaration of assets in fulfillment of your covenant with Nigerians.”.