President Bola Tinubu has sanctioned a major boost to the Code of Conduct Bureau’s budget, elevating it from approximately ₦3 billion to close to ₦20 billion.
Dr. Abubakar Bello, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, shared this development during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.
Bello explained that the funding hike aims to modernize the country’s obsolete asset declaration process, enhance verification mechanisms, and improve enforcement capabilities, thereby increasing the bureau’s overall efficiency.
He stated that the additional resources are essential for financing technological advancements, upgrading the bureau’s operational facilities, bolstering verification procedures, and expanding enforcement abilities.
The CCB chairman reflected that upon taking office, he found the asset declaration process was predominantly manual, dependent on physical paper forms that were in short supply, costly to produce, and challenging to store, analyze, and verify.
He pointed out that public servants from various ministries, departments, and agencies frequently demanded tens of thousands of forms, which the bureau was unable to supply.
According to him, the situation was worsened by the fact that the 2025 budget made provision of only about ₦70 million for printing forms.He said the amount could only produce about 50,000 to 60,000 forms for more than 4.5 million public servants nationwide.
To tackle this issue, Bello noted that the bureau implemented a provisional solution modeled after Kenya’s approach, by making asset declaration forms available for download on its website.
However, he emphasized that this method merely resolved the issue of accessibility and did not address the fundamental limitations of a primarily manual process.
Bello announced that the bureau has progressed significantly in creating a comprehensive online asset declaration system, after thorough discussions with relevant parties.
He mentioned that the platform, anticipated to launch in the first quarter of 2026, will enable public servants to submit their asset declarations remotely from any location worldwide.
The CCB chairman described the digital platform as a “game changer” because it would be linked directly to key databases.
According to him, the platform would be linked to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Bank Verification Number system, land registries and other government records to enable instant verification.
He further stated that artificial intelligence will be utilized to examine asset declarations and assess changes in net worth between the start and end of a public servant’s term in office.
The AI platform, according to him, would flag unexplained wealth or possible breaches of the Code of Conduct for further review.
Within these ongoing reforms, Bello indicated that the bureau has started summoning ministers, permanent secretaries, and other high-ranking officials for asset verification, emphasizing that “verification is not investigation.”
He revealed that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, personally appeared to verify his assets, sending what he described as a strong signal of leadership by example.
The CCB chairman reported that the verification exercises have resulted in interim forfeiture orders for instances where public servants either omitted asset declarations or failed to justify their origins, encompassing properties both domestically and abroad.
According to him, some recovered funds had already been transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He cautioned public servants that non-declaration of assets or ignoring verification summons may lead to probes and potential trials at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Bello encouraged adherence to the bureau’s core motto, “Declare or Forfeit.”
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