CCB chair: London property recovered, governor’s chief of staff arraigned over asset declaration breach

The code of conduct bureau (CCB) says it has completed the development of its online asset and liabilities declaration system ahead of deployment.

Abdullahi Bello, executive chairman of the bureau, spoke on Thursday at the close-out ceremony of the Policy Writing Fellowship and the unveiling of the Local Governance Accountability (LGA) portal in Abuja.

Bello said the platform will serve as the asset declaration database for public servants across the country.

“I am pleased to announce that our Online Asset and Liabilities Declaration System is now 100 percent developed and ready for deployment and testing,” he said.

Bello added that the bureau is open to partnerships that promote responsible public access to governance data without compromising the privacy and security of declarants.

The CCB chairman also said the bureau had completed the verification of asset declarations submitted by high-risk public officials.

According to him, the exercise covered 19 ministers, 37 permanent secretaries, 20 heads of agencies and 32 other senior public officers.

Bello said the bureau had also intensified enforcement efforts, leading to the forfeiture of several assets, including a property in London.

He added that several cases had been referred to the code of conduct tribunal, while the chief of staff to a state governor was arraigned before the tribunal on Wednesday.

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Bello described the portal as a tool that would strengthen transparency and accountability at the grassroots by providing access to financial allocations, council profiles and information on elected local government officials.

He said the portal would empower citizens, researchers, journalists and civil society organisations to monitor public spending and demand better service delivery.

Bello also congratulated participants of the second cohort of the fellowship, urging them to deploy their knowledge and skills in advancing good governance and evidence-based policymaking. [TheCable]