Asset Declaration: What does it mean and why’s it mandatory for incoming and outgoing public officials? A Neusroom explainer
As Nigeria prepares for the swearing-in of a new administration, the Code of Conduct Bureau Office has asked public officials in the Muhammadu Buhari administration to declare their assets before May 29, 2023, while newly elected officials have been given three months.
Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, the Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima, and all elected officials and their appointees are required by law to declare their assets.
Many Nigerians believe that elected public officials enrich themselves through bribes and other corrupt practices. Many have also argued that corruption is one of the major factors why Nigeria continues to struggle economically despite the abundance of human and natural resources.
According to a 2019 survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to determine the prevalence and frequency of bribery in Nigeria, out of 63% of Nigerians who came in contact with a public official, 30% paid at least one bribe. Public officials adopt illegal means to accumulate wealth and are often richer than they were before they assumed the position.
The Asset Declaration Act is one of the ways the Nigerian 1999 Constitution seeks to prevent corruption and detect illicit wealth acquisition by elected or appointed officials. The World Bank also says more than 150 countries have introduced asset disclosure requirements for their public officials.
Section 5 of the Constitution says public officials shall submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all their properties, assets, and liabilities and those of their unmarried children under the age of 18 years within three months after taking office. These properties, assets, and liabilities also include those owned outside the country. It is also required by law for public officials to declare their assets every four years and at the end of their term of office.
Tinubu, Shettima, are set to take the oath of office, Nigerians are looking forward to the assets, properties, and liabilities they would declare, particularly as controversies surrounding Tinubu’s source of wealth continue to attract national attention.
According to Femi Okunrounmu, who chaired the 2014 National Conference Convocation Committee, 90% of politicians declare assets falsely.
In 2019, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, of refusing to declare his assets in 1989 upon his appointment as justice of the High Court of Cross Rivers State. Among other public officials accused of not declaring their assets upon assuming office includes Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. The Pandora Papers, one of the biggest leaks of financial documents in the world, exposed that Peter Obi owned offshore companies which he failed to declare when he became governor of Anambra State.
The Constitution also provides consequences for refusal of public officials to declare asset.
The law states:
The punishment which the Code of Conduct Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following:
a) vacation of office or seat in any legislative house, as the case may be;
b) disqualification from membership of a legislative house and from the holding of any public office for a period not exceeding ten years; and
c) seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.
